As a public school history teacher in a Los Angeles middle school, I will have my classes read this column aloud and discuss it next Monday. My thanks to Mr. Blow.
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Is the history of America based on an ugly lie?
Has the truth about how America evolved been so distorted and rewritten that it’s impossible to tell what really happened?
Here in France the truth about the holocaust under the German occupation was covered up with distortions for over forty years.
Only recently have French presidents told what really happened. French gendarmes and the Vichy government cooperated fully with the Nazis to round up the Jewish population and put them on trains sent to concentration camps.
Here in our America ten of the first twelve presidents owned slaves.
That is our real American tradition.
141
The USA is founded on a genocide. It's long time we admitted it, and used the G-word, and tried to do right by the survivors.
That said, I'm troubled by the progressives' recent emphasis on teaching our young children to feel that Thanksgiving is something evil. In fact, it's the one day, more than any other, that families and friends try to unite and reach out to each other despite differences, with noble sentiments; and that is a good thing, whatever its history. Teaching small kids that the day is an evil celebration of genocide, and that their families are guilty of it, is wrong. It doesn't improve the lot of a single Native American family, and it makes us all poorer.
84
Mr. Blow, I wish you would use your outstanding writing skills to speak about something positive. Everything is not wrong about America and every thing associated with "white" men is not negative. I expect a future column ravaging Santa Clause and then, gads, the tooth fairy.
556
Mr. Blow, I want to cry when I think of the horrors done to the peoples already in north America when the pilgrims came and the myths that have been propagated over the years about the supposed purity and beauty of the first Thanksgiving. I want to cry for all the horrors perpetuated on so many from Africa. It is mind boggling and difficult to comprehend.
That being said, I naivley want to focus on my memories of my family get togethers at Thanksgiving over the years. The happy memories, the times together with so many who are now gone. I just turned 70. I am going nowhere tomorrow for Thanksgiving and am not having a big dinner. I used to complain (to myself) of all the work in cooking and cleaning and preparing the dinner, or of he work of packing 2 kids up and traveling over an hour to visit family. Now I so wish those family members were still here. I so wish my children were still with me. I so wish I had someone to cook for or to drive to visit. The Joni Mitchell song with the line..."you don't know what you've got til it's gone..." certainly apples.
I think most enlightened people realize the myth of the first Thanksgiving is false and in fact is pretty awful. A lot of our country's history and actually still today is awful. However, Thanksgiving has now become for most of us I think, a time to think of and love our family and appreciate our family and break bread together. You don't know what you have until it's gone.
1079
See this new posting for a fascinating take on how these Native americans viewed their Puritan counterparts and their shocking hygenic beliefs. Begs the question of just who was the so called "barbarian" in this pivotal period of history.
https://www.history.com/news/american-colonists-pilgrims-puritans-bathing
That said, Peace and a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
121
Great piece Charles.
125
Charles - For once, can we just be thankful without the wet blanket of guilt and shame?
992
A predictable article that missed the point of Thanksgiving, which is to be thankful for the food on your table. Historically this point would not be lost on people as starvation was once so common. Today however, privleged people like Blow no nothing of famine or starvation, which they can take for granted as they sneer condescending on traditions of the past. Without the pilgrims there would likely be no United States, or for that matter Nytimes. Be thankful rather than bitter. If you don't know starvation you are among the privleged of world history. The United States has fed billions worldwide through the Green Revolution, which Blow has likely never written about.
665
I mean, we’re talking about an event/series of events involving human beings so of course there’s a hefty dose of evil and greed behind it, and major spin to the story. Has anything involving people ever been otherwise? .....It sounds like Mr. Blow would prefer we not marvel at the pyramids of Egypt or at Michu Picchu because slave labor was used in their construction; celebrate Independence Day, because women and African - Americans certainly did not have their independence on that day; or New Year’s Eve because it means the previous year is meeting its demise..... Look in to any holiday or any human achievement, and I guarantee there is badness lurking not far beneath the glossy surface.
518
Can you save these articles for AFTER the next election please. This is pure ammo for the MAGA crowd.
427
Looking forward to the Xmas column. Should be a doozy.
712
“The past is never dead. It's not even past.”
- William Faulkner
Sing it, Charles Blow.....from the nation's rooftops !
159
I have a sinking feeling Charles will be providing some additional disappointing news about Santa Claus and the Easter bunny in his upcoming opinion pieces...
589
The "official" Thanksgiving history is a myth and the genocide that followed was sweep under the rug.
Next up Christmas! That's real right? (sarcasm).
82
Every true American stands up and attentively listens to William Burroughs, "A Thanksgiving Prayer" when the turkey is ushered from the kitchen stove to the dining table. Listen on...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLSveRGmpIE
13
Know what?
I don't care.
It's not that I don't care about genocide and myriad atrocities visited upon native people by white interlopers. What I'm tired of is, every Thanksgiving, we get this same tired "Thanksgiving isn't what you were taught in school" stuff. Every year, NYT publishes the same story: Guess what kids? What you learned in school is a myth!
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/27/opinion/thanksgiving-history-racism.html?searchResultPosition=2
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/thanksgiving-myths-fact-check.html
Anyone with two brain cells knows this. I'm tired of reading it every Thanksgiving, even though I know that Native Americans got jobbed. Next up: Another football is deadly story!
Find other things to write about that we don't already know about. I want to spend Thanksgiving being thankful, not feeling guilty. I also want to watch football. Does that make me a bad person?
577
And a guilty, politically correct Thanksgiving to you Mr. Blow! Perhaps we should have a day of penitent fasting, instead of a family feast? What a wicked people we are. Is there no hope?
488
Is Mr. Blow complaining about what he remembers about learning, what is being taught now or about white people massacring native Americans? sorry but I will take the 4 day weekend and time with family - yes white people are awful but do we really need to drag thanksgiving into the mudpit of modern politics?
129
The American holocaust. Nothing less.
166
I’m Mayflower by accident of birth.
My ancestors committed genocide on the Indians and later, black slaves.
It’s a Karma that America still hasn’t paid off to our everlasting shame, unhappiness and division.
“Jesus tells me, I believe it’s true
The red man is in the sunset too
Took all their land and they won’t give it back
Sent Geronimo a Cadillac”
Michael Murphy
Geronimo’s Cadillac
1972
70
These are the same folks who drowned and stoned their own women to weed out "witches."
163
Golly, Charles. Next you’ll write that if we enjoy Thanksgiving even a smidge, you’ll have nothing to do with us! Ever!
161
History is written by the winners/survivors. Did you just figure that out Mr. Blow? This revisionist history is brought to us by, Ibid. and Op. Cit.
56
Happy Thanksgiving to you Charles Blow. I am thankful tjat I can read tour columns!!!!
I am thankful every time I am close to Nature andf ser its bounty.
I wrote something else. Hiper it got sent. If not I will repeat
10
C'mon man....give it a rest !
315
What sad, overblown, smug, pompous moralistic drivel. Thanksgiving is not some dim historical moment; Thanksgiving is what we have made it, a joyous celebration of family and fellowship. A dark episode in a few colonial lives; annually, a bright moment in hundreds of millions of American lives, a wonderful day. The holiday's good is overwhelming.
At a time when we are giving thanks for the bountiful life America has afforded most of us, it would be productive to talk about today's shortcomings and needs, to remind us of the work we need to do. Grace comes at a price; if we are fortunate, then we morally owe help to those who are not. I would prefer to look to the now, rather than whinge about the hypocrisy of the past. There is much hypocrisy in the here and now, and it is that which we should not abide.
481
Thanks, Charles, but - no thanks. History is history, and Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving.
234
My family and I do the turkey and the pies and the fellowship. We skip the pilgrims bad behavior, the parades, Black Friday, and televised football. We realize and are sorry for the bad behavior of our ancestors. We pledge to try to treat each other and our fellow persons better in the coming year. Shalom.
227
It sounds like the first Thanksgiving was a good day for all involved.
Yes, horrible things happened forever after. But...that day was a good day. Future enemies broke bread together.
Perhaps tragic would be a better word than horrible.
95
Charles: I look forward to your column on July 4, just before I light up the grill for a family barbecue, reminding all of us what a terrible event our declaration of independence actually was.
234
Although too many amongst us prefer to wrap themselves in the self-destructive delusion of “American Exceptionalism”, often aided and abetted by vote-seeking manipulative politicians, you are to be much applauded Mr. Blow for delivering uncomfortable but necessary national truths to your readership. This Thanksgiving Day accounting is one of them. With 13,000 unprecedented lies, and counting, uttered to date by the shameless fraudster presently occupying our Oval Office, the citizenry desperately needs to be exposed at this fraught time to an accurate national history. This is not to denigrate the many accomplishments of the country, but to realize that engagement in pure fantasy not only elevates ignorance but makes us more amenable to accepting at mere face value, without studied evaluation, the propaganda of those who desire to rule us.
77
This reminds of a comment made by marvelous Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, almost 200 years later:
"The white men made many promises, but kept only one.
They promised to take our lands. And, they did".
92
We need to know the true history. Because, history will come around. Those who commit atrocities should not be glorified. Descendants of Europeans who claim that they were a force for good on this planet should know that they are the opposite.
53
Luckily, Thanksgiving isn't about the mass murder of indigenous people these days and our societal values have shifted away from a desire for hegemony.
35
American history is difficult, turbulent and really, really complicated. The first thing it requires is a willingness to be honest with ourselves and with our children. One of the first things everyone should know is that indigenous Americans were also enslaved before and during the times of the Atlantic Slave trade. Over two million Native Americans were enslaved in North America and the Caribbean. (Later up to ten million Africans would be.) Columbus himself brags in his diaries of the hundreds of indigenous women he enslaved and raped. The truth is, our nation's history involves two genocides and two sets of people enslaved, disenfranchised, used and abused for profit. I am a patriotic American. I am a teacher. But I'm not going to lie to my students. Thousands of documents, including many first person accounts, by perpetrators and victims, acknowledge all of this. Be a patriot--love your country knowing it's full history and aim to do better. All our children and their future children deserve the truth, unvarnished and horrifying and complicated as it is. Just as Germany has had to come to grips with its terrible Nazi past, we too must deal with the reality of our not-always-so-wonderful history.
150
The atrocity has been papered over in order to pave the way for the myth of American Exceptionalism. "All governments operate by myth, fraud and ultimately force." At a Native American pow wow in Montana, I took note of the words on one tribe member's large silver belt buckle: "America... Love It or Give It Back."
62
All true but is this how we want to talk about it? We are all here and staying so what do u say we go on and make it better for everyone by getting away from identity politics?
34
Modern Thanksgiving arises in significant part from President Lincoln's Proclamation of October 3, 1863 which reads in part "The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God..."
"... I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."
Abraham Lincoln
239
For millennia humans have been massacring each other for every reason under the sun. The brutality hasn't ended. It's very fashionable right now to think that the United States is the most evil country, but it's not. For example every year more people are lynched in Latin America than were in the entire history of slavery in the US. Every year. Today. Now. Not a long time ago. Read the WSJ investigative report on violence in Latin America (where this statistic comes from) if you don't believe me. The WSJ has a habit of doing good investigative reporting, and not being afraid upsetting entrenched ideologies while doing so. So you can be glad you're in a relatively very peaceful country and you can go ahead and celebrate and give thanks for that. Welcome to humanity. Oh, and there is no Santa. Sorry.
117
How many of these columns is the Times going to publish?
By now, regular readers of this paper and other news sources know what the true history of Thanksgiving is. It gets old to read every columnists same take on the subject. One well-written op-ed a year is enough.
Happy Thanksgiving to all, anyway, regardless of how you celebrate it!
101
Cool! Let’s exhume this handwringing and general guilt every single year for the rest of our lives.
That’ll surely resurrect all of the dead Indians and restore unfortunate decision-making of people that occupied this continent hundreds of years before we were born.
While you’re at it, also please review Christopher Columbus on a yearly basis, emphasizing his slave-owning and/or xenophobic tendencies. Surely long decomposed folks from more than 500 years ago will appreciate our collective moment of silence as we attempt to at all understand what they were about and feel generally bad about it.
Leave history to historians and eat a drumstick already. And if turkey is too culturally misappropriate, snare a deer and eat some moldy corn to feel more at ease.
111
I am wondering how Thanksgiving is being explained in American schools. The real tragedy that killed Native Americans or the sugar coated one ?
18
Yes, the "holy" white Christian settlers committed atrocities, and not just against Native Americans. But the Native Americans were also a varied lot, some peaceful, some barbaric. These "white bad, brown good" oversimplifications don't serve anyone, here or across the globe. We all know the indigenous people were mistreated in America, but maybe it's time for us all, including Mr. Blow, to check the mirror, atone for our sins, and perhaps enjoy this holiday in peace and brotherhood?
105
Give me a break man. Let our family gather and enjoy each other's company and eat turkey or vegan in peace. There is no righting old wrongs, so just go enjoy your family, enjoy the present moment, and don't think so hard every second of the day. Must be exhausting.
128
Scolding Europeans who lived 400 years ago for not sharing Mr. Blow’s finely-tuned and perhaps appropriate cultural sensitivities in the pages of the New York Times is not exactly climbing out on a journalistic limb. Regardless I wish my American neighbours a happy Thanksgiving and leave them with the possibility that the current residents of Hong Kong, at least, would welcome Europeans back to their shores.
146
Sorry to say so, but this is a bad column. By this approach, we can deconstruct every single holiday and hero in history. Is it better to live as a nation that takes a day to stop and reflect on the good things in our lives, or to self-flagellate over what ancestors did 500 years ago?
132
The mindless cruelty and selfishness that drove the Pilgrims to slaughter native Americans, is also likely responsible for the pitiful response by humans to the global warming catastrophe and mass extinction that is occurring.
34
The historical narrative of the brutal conquest and treatment of Native Americans you reference is true. But, you are 49, I am 53. Even in super conservative, ultra white, rural Ohio in the 1970's it was impossible for me not to be aware of the Native American movement (which later led to my awareness of leaders like Leonard Peltier), Alex Haley's Roots led to awareness of Euro-Americans abuse of African Americans...was the popular culture that different and that far behind in Louisiana? We all had ABC, NBC, and CBS (our antenna couldn't pick up PBS). I find it hard to believe you didn't receive that narrative. More so a problem is willful ignorance perpetuated to cover cultural guilt, not true ignorance, willful, which is worse. Like when my sister, a fan of Limbaugh quoted him saying the Indians just picked the wrong side and they lost (so simple) to which, I replied in a war of annihilation of one's people from all sides, what side should be picked? Then there is the perverse pride of belonging to the conquering culture, not ignorance, but pride. As a combat vet, I was disgusted back home as war ignorant Americans cheered war like it is a football game. MSM outlets like the NYTimes and the networks cheered too, but with more ponderous pretend seriousness, intoning our international "responsibilities". Just greed, just theft, just America, just human. That was my awful revelation in Somalia. To be human is not only to err, to be human, is also evil.
44
Is no degree of separation appropriate at this time in America? Or if not separation then a reference in passing to
1
I am not sure why nothing can just be enjoyed these days, people always seem to insist on finding something wrong with every single event in our history. Why can't we just appreciate Thanksgiving, and just enjoy it, without having to use it to push some sort of "social justice" agenda. It annoys me how so many people act like white people are the root of all evil. White people have done a lot of HORRIBLE things over the years, but people from every single race have done very bad things throughout history. No one talks about cannibalism or sexual abuse practiced in the past by indigenous people, because it would be deemed "politically incorrect" to criticize anyone who is not white. I believe racism and bigotry are disgusting and horrible things, and there are a lot of racist people in this world; but trying to be "politically correct" just makes everyone angry and miserable. I am sure someone will reply to this comment without even reading most of it, and call me out for my "intolerance". I am just saying, maybe we should just focus on what we do in the future, instead of fuming over the past.
103
Troubling Thanksgiving ritual segueing into Christmas Season: watching Anti-Semitic "March of the Wooden Soldiers".
9
Knowledge ...good. Guilt...no. Happy turkey day to all.
30
Oh Charles, really? Another lecture on how United States history is nothing but one instance after another of capitalism and white men oppressing everything and everyone around them? Let's please move past this knee-jerk ideological nonsense and least recognize that maybe, just maybe, that history is complicated and nuanced, and that Howard Zinn and critical race theory don't hold the answers to everything.
100
Oh what a buzz kill. I thought it was about mashed potatoes and gravy too.
43
“Modern scholars have argued that indigenous communities were devastated by leptospirosis, a disease caused by Old World bacteria that had likely reached New England through the feces of rats that arrived on European ships.”
Leptospirosis has been discounted as the plague that devastated the Native American tribes in New England in 1616-1617. It is a zoonotic disease that is generally transmitted through urine and considered very weakly contagious between humans. The only reason Leptospirosis was considered a possible candidate is that in severe cases there is a pox-like rash and jaundice due to liver damage. However, Leptospirosis has a very low transmission rate, which cannot account for the rapid spread through the New England Native American population. Whatever the pathogen, it had to be an airborne, highly contagious fulminant disease.
42
For those readers who rely, for their historical information about 17th-Century New England, on a 1914 painting by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, you will be better informed by reading "The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity" by Jill Lapore (1999).
23
While we are re-examining history, maybe the native Americans should re-examine the mass extinction of all the large mammals that were living in America before they arrived.
46
And who are you going to blame for the dinosaur extinction?
31
Ok. There is no Santa Claus. Thanksgiving is not about history. It is about a time of secular gathering of families. No presents. No religious rituals. I will gather with family and friends- thankful for each other and what is good in our lives.
80
Well written article! I’m thankful everyday and will never need to use the fourth Thursday of every November to remind me of my blessings. My love to all Native Americans and First Nations people as the world celebrates their version of “Thanksgiving”.
14
Look, Charles. Indeed some of the actions of the European colonizers were brutal! At the same time, it is generally agreed that the Chinese invented the compass and advances in shipbuilding! Yet, they weren’t curious about the oceans outside their borders, and it took the Europeans to launch they Age of Exploration! I’m thankful for Thanksgiving and hope all Americans can get joy from the day! I’m also thankful, that the English and the weather defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588! For you can be sure there would have been no Thanksgiving and no democratic Republic of The United States of America!
28
Do we really need to decry everything that unites us Americans?
It’s a harvest feast.
It celebrates the bounty of our beautiful home Earth.
It celebrates our humanity as part of the natural world.
We need to eat to survive.
Plants and animals of this Earth are our food.
Just enjoy and be grateful for being alive in this magnificent world for the short time that you are.
99
I'm thankful to be able to understand things are not always what we want them to be.
That's how we learn to be better people.
32
One can choose to gather with one's family and friends for a feast or one can choose to mine the past to elicit outrage in the present. It is a choice that speaks for itself.
77
Thanksgiving is a lovely American holiday. We are thankful for our many blessings. I loved being at the grocery stores with everyone bustling to put together their family’s traditional meal. All four of our parents are driving in to join us this year. Mr. Blow is correct, but not right.
66
Well, on the bright side, I got 14 out 15 right on Gail Collins’ Thanksgiving Quiz. According to her rules, winner gets to chose dinner conversation topic.
Since my wife only got 12 right, I win.
I think I’ll look for something other than this piece to start from and just enjoy the day.
Happy Thanksgiving
55
This isn’t new information.
There can’t be many people who don’t know about the decimation of indigenous peoples in North and South America.
However our handwringing is of no use now. It might feel satisfying to heap scorn on Thanksgivings but it’s an empty gesture. The past can’t be altered.
33
Well.... if the past can’t be altered why is it being altered by telling wishful thinking stories about what thanksgiving is all about? This article is not altering the past but telling it how it was. So let’s stop telling lies about some imaginary event invented by people who believe that history can be rewritten to their liking and just celebrate a day of being thankful for the things in our lives that deserve to be thankful for.....
21
You would do more good in the world if you acknowledged more freely the good in the first Thanksgiving, for which we celebrate it in my household: a feast of frightened, desperate people grateful for their improbable survival, to which the local Native Americans were invited as honored guests. Of course the guests outnumbered the tiny band of Pilgrims; no one in my community has ever suggested otherwise; you are disengenuous to imply otherwise.
The descent in the newcomers' conduct towards their local benefactors is well-documented, in, for example, King Philip’s War, by Schultz & Tougias, which you should read. This descent is not, however, surprising, and from what I know of other cultures few, if any, would have behaved differently as they grew from a tiny, terrified band to a large, powerful and rapacious culture, for whom the locals were no longer venerated elders, but at best an inconvenience and at worst a problem to be solved by whatever means necessary or convenient, culminating in the disagreeable and justly-maligned doctrine of Manifest Destiny.
But not all Native Americans were admirable; the eponymous Pequod, for example, were as disagreeable as the newcomers grew to be. And similarly, not all Thanksgivings were blood-soaked horrors, as you imply. The first was good and simple gratitude, and we should celebrate it as it is, untainted by what came later, though we are mindful of that, on other days. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, as they say.
41
There is not much about the past that cannot be 'uncovered' as wrong or evil when seen through the lens of today. What is carried forward is typically the best and not the worst of humanity. It is up to those who truly want a more just future to glean from the perversities of these historical illustrations the truths that did exist that were just. Those truths were essentially the hope for a better future. The European newcomers did treat the indigenous peoples wrongly. The indigenous peoples, however, slaughtered each other in much the same ways as the European peoples slaughtered each other back in Europe and elsewhere. It seems that in actual fact the good and evil that was the coming of the Europeans was the good and evil of the times. What we can take from these histories is the concept of giving thanks and sharing and make it more just.
18
Dear Mr. Blow,
Of course you are right - we all need to learn our TRUE histories. May I suggest an excellent book that my Book Club read and discussed just last month - “The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee”.
Thank you for your columns - Happy Thanksgiving.
14
That's too bad for those who are too woke to enjoy Thanksgiving. Personally I love the holiday, plan to enjoy it to the fullest, and don't care how it got to be that way.
56
Thanksgiving was created entirely by commercial interests, who use the day to sell us all sorts of foods to use in our feasts, but not before they use a parade in New York as a giant commercial for a department store, followed by three football games to bait us even more with commercials. And when the day is finally done, and not even then for the greediest stores who open tomorrow, we are herded right away into shopping on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. Maybe it should be called Moneygiving instead.
26
My hope is that it's possible to recognize this brutal past and understand why it has been hidden as the basis for working to build a society in which in which the oppression of others will no longer be possible or accepted.
21
I don't think that we want to be "blissfully blind". The truth is miles more interesting than fiction -and makes me appreciate Thanksgiving more. Further, I do believe that a day to stop and count our blessings, in the company of those we love, can never be a bad thing. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
25
How about in keeping with the historical basis of this holiday, the Thanksgiving ritual could be that everyone donates to a Native American charity,
Or scholarship, or something?
It would be interesting to see some articles about how Native Americans celebrate Thanksgiving these days.
15
I've got mice in my basement in my house on Long Island and a neighbor died of the hantavirus.
But I did think that the area where the mice are had to have no or very little air circulation to cause harm; so the part dealing with the spread of disease by rodents seems a bit far fetched but maybe the feces from rodents are a different story.
That said, I will get a cat in the house, I learned that kittie litter can be disposed of in the compost bin.
Therefore this article has motivated me to take care.
7
This is literally what Trump was talking about when he said Democrats were launching a war on Thanksgiving. A whole bunch of people laughed at him, but I, being fortunate enough to live in San Francisco, am treated to lectures like this every year.
Lighten up. It’s a day of thanks. It has a much more complex history than what’s represented here, and like many of our other holidays, it’s from a more prosaic tradition of celebrating seasonal milestones, in this case, a good harvest. Canada also has Thanksgiving on a different day.
137
as a kid I liked Thanksgiving, a great meal with company, a day off from school, sports to watch or play.
Looking back I'm amazed how little awareness I had of the genocidal implications for native Americans, as well as all the work my mother (and other female relatives) did to shop, prepare, cook, clean up, and also the cruel deplorable conditions for raising the turkeys. But at least I'm aware of all that now, and I skip the turkey and help with the meal!
23
The "hard Truth" is that pillage and conquest was the way of the world throughout all of history until World War II. Before then, every people, tribe, and nation took what riches and lands that they could take, slaughtering as many of their neighbors as necessary, and were lauded in legend, myth, and folktales for their victories.
World War II and its aftermath largely put an end to conquest as routine statecraft. The defeat of Germany and Japan put an end to dreams of empire. Following the War, the United States was instrumental in forcing the European powers to give up their empires and free their remaining colonies.
This is not to minimize the atrocities inflicted on Native Americans, but to point out that they had the misfortune to suffer conquest near the end of wars of conquest. Others, including the inhabitants of England, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany and Russia,and not only third world countries, suffered the same fate of conquest, slaughter and enslavement, the difference being that we are far enough removed in time that there are no descendants with living memories of those atrocities.
So, the revisionist history of the first Thanksgiving we now learn about is accurate, deplorable by todays standards, and the myth should be corrected. The Pilgrims and settlers who came after them were not saints, but their actions were perfectly in accord with all of human history and the times in which they lived. Only very recently have we learned better.
41
@David The world of conquest still lives in the most backward areas of Asia, South America, and Africa. It cannot stand up to Christianity and has disappeared in the most solidly Christian areas.
The USA is the most free place on this planet which is why more people long tocome here than anywhere else.
Americans owe NO ONE any apologies.
17
If the saccharine kindergarten version of Thanksgiving is too rosy by far, then Blow's version is far too acerbic.
The 1621 celebration was perhaps not among friends, but neither was it among avowed enemies. The relationship between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag was complex. For instance, the Wampanoag enlisted the Pilgrims as allies in a war to fend off the Narragansett, who looked to grab Wampanoag land opportunistically in the early 1630s.
Yes, subsequent history was terrible, and involved genocidal conduct by European colonists.
Yet the Thanksgiving celebration itself was a moment of possibility. The participants viewed each other with a mixture of opportunism, genuine curiosity, a dose of mistrust, and yes, some actual fellowship. It was by no means clear that the colonists at this point were the dominant power. For the most part, one has to view both the Indigenous Americans and the colonists as people doing their best, with a very inadequate understanding of each other, and a very limited toolkit for negotiating the encounter.
The promise of this moment is perhaps what we should celebrate at Thanksgiving - even if it became a promise never delivered. Without forgetting the devastation that was to follow for Indigenous Americans, it is possible to see Thanksgiving as a testament to the possibility of intercultural understanding.
50
Reading “Lies My Teacher Told Me” helped inform (and reform) my teaching. It should be required reading for every educator.
10
Breaking news. A lot of bad things happened in the past and there are numerous bad people among our ancestors. There are also many esteemed pundits who will remind us of this any chance they get. These lectures are especially prevalent around holidays. There is always some narrative that tells us how celebrating whatever holiday is an insult to some long distant cause or class of people. I absolutely agree. I am now of the opinion that all holidays that arise out of some common American tradition from the past should be abolished. Because citizens will not willingly give up days off work we can come up with a whole new class of holidays to celebrate without guilt. I am open to suggestions, but believe Super Bowl Sunday, Amazon Prime Day and Sponge Bob’s birthday would be a good place to start.
38
Strong words, speaking truth.
11
Of course we know in 2019 that Thanksgiving is not what many of us learned as children. But I do agree with other commenters that the holiday has come to have meaning beyond its mythology.
The same could be said for the NYT and its history. If Mr. Blow can see fit to work for this publication, he must understand this.
Most of us are deeply sorry for the violence and racism that shaped the world we inhabit. We're sad and frustrated that bad forces persist. Still, we have to live here. We're doing our best.
22
The truth is in history Mr. Blow, the white man has done a lot of bad things, and left a lot of good things behind, as other races have done. You need to take the good and run with it, not be anger about the past. It doesn’t help going forward mad, let the kids enjoy the holiday. They’ll find out in due time.
18
Wow talk about being a downer on a day families are trying to get together. This happened hundreds of years ago. Don't forget history but take time this weekend to embrace your present and those around you.
25
You shouldn't be too surprised Charles. The early immigrants were taught well by the Europeans who sent them and who were also responsible for wiping out a very large portion of indigenous people worldwide. But I do get your point. It's an ugly old history we come from.
9
We are going for a really fancy Chinese food.
5
Looking further back, each of us alive today can thank a long-ago predecessor -- perhaps a Neanderthal, Denisovan or early Homo Sapiens -- who was set upon, attacked, fought off the attackers and survived.
Or raided a neighboring clan in a time of famine and violently seized their food, fire and tools.
Killing was surely involved, time and again.
All of us, including the columnist, are in the here and now directly as a result of violent "presentism-crimes" by our ancestors.
I don't feel any guilt about that. Do you?
And how different are the circumstances of the early 1600s in America?
40
Thank you Charles for telling the thanksgiving truth. I arrived in the US at 12 in Nov. 1964. As a Canadian child I was shocked by the Thanksgiving myth - I still hate this holiday. It reeks of paternalism and nativism. I have tried to learn to like it - I have even taken my kids to Plymoth Plantation on a cold wet day in late November to see it that helped. It does not. The Puritans were a particularly miserable group of people and they were murderously awful to the native peoples. When you add in football (1860's) and shopping (post depression) as incentives for the weekend you find it to be a terrible, awful, racist, unkind, mean holiday. But hey - we can all pig out on starchy food and speak to our blood relatives - like that is a good plan!!
13
I'm so glad I read the NYT. Thank You Mr. Blow, I am Thankful for this country. God Bless the U.S.A. Happy Thanksgiving! I'll take a leg.
6
Modern Thanksgiving day is an opportunity to stop NOW and pay thoughtful gratitude for your goodness NOW. This anti-thanksgiving attitude based on past sins amounts to throwing worms into your own bowl of rice.
18
The victors write history, but here's one where the Native-Americans perpetrated the slaughter. On March 22, 1622, the Powhatan led by Opechancanough staged a brutal surprise attack burning settlements and plantations along the James River, killing approximately 347 colonists in Virginia. Jamestown almost didn't survive.
20
While this is an interesting quote from Wikipedia; I question the plantations. What plantations?
2
So now we should consider Squanto as a rat-fink traitor & collaborator? Without his teachings & that of other natives the colonists would have perished or left these shores.
Going back to where we came from would be troublesome as on arrival someone else would claim an earlier linage. Notice how newcomers to one's home turf these days look at you like you're crazy when you mention ancestral ties.
Let's celebrate this holiday with family in thanks & magnanimity.
8
Do you know whose traditional land you live on? Perhaps before eating this Thanksgiving, you can give some thought to those whose ancestral land you inhabit.
I live on Arapaho land.
15
Trust the Liberals to "woke scold" the rest of us, the unenlightened about our "complicity" in historical injustices at every possible opportunity, even when all we care for was a piece of Turkey, a beer, a chance to catch up with friends and family and watch a bit of football.
Get off of your high horse, it's becoming tedious and rather odious , all this moral posturing and hectoring.
83
This feel guilty for holidays thing is kind of getting old. Vote Marianne Williamson if you want some sort of repatriations of Natives and African Americans but I am tired of the annual lecture.
31
OMG. Please stop. Now even Thanksgiving is an offense?
We get it. History is full of atrocities committed by every dominant culture.
Can't we just celebrate the love of family and friends one day year without guilt?
122
Exactly
15
The truth about Thanksgiving and Columbus Day is too painful for Americans who mostly prefer to fantasize American history rather than acknowledge it.
Native Americans were slaughtered or died from disease by every move the White man made further into their territory.
The New England Native Americans were but the first of literally millions of Native Americans who died at the hands of the White man.
Christianity played a major role in the slaughter of one million Native Americans in California alone who were killed by the Catholic Church because they wouldn't convert to Catholicism.
Trump and his blissfuly ignorant MAGA mob don't care a whit about authentic American history. The fictional one is fine with them.
13
@Ken Solin -- no, the Catholic church did not kill the Native Americans in California. Father Serra opened missions hoping to teach the Native Americans Christianity, which is still a common practice among today's protestant religions (spreading the gospel). In my readings austerity and disease took the lives of the Native Americans, not the Catholics.
10
Yes. And most of our myths are similarly made up and filled with horrors.
Trump is a direct descendent of all the malarkey we were fed. It is also known in more polite English as the American Rhetoric.
Good for you Mr Blow to bring this up.
Do you want to do something about it though? For real?
Then, change your tune and support the only candidate who will honestly attempt to make things right.
Bernie 2020. Tell your brothers and sisters to vote for him too. I already told mine.
5
Thanksgiving has become a family tradition, and while the story behind it is gruesome, and indeed, needs to be acknowledged, why not have it be a yearly family day?
I know too many people who would not want to give up the holiday, not only because it is a day off from work, but because people are always loathe to give up on tradition.
It would be great, too, if schools could teach what Mr. Blow is bringing to light, the facts surrounding what has been aptly named the American Holocaust.
Living in hypocrisy only hurts the actual truth we ought to be seeking, especially in this day and age where what is real is being called fake, and what is fake is being taken as fact.
14
Americans welcome their personal family's inheritance, but deny their historical collective inheritance when it's uncomfortable.
All of you benefit from genocide and slavery whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.
Remember this when you sit with the executor of the will.
Just say no!
5
just wondering how you will be spending the day tomorrow...
11
I think the history lesson speaks to Mr. Blow because his ancesters were probably brought here against their will and their culture and historical traditions were destroyed. That's what we do in America-- melt traditions together until they are boring, sanitized versions.
4
The animal kingdom is divided into predator and prey; invader and invaded, dominant and submissive, conquerer and conquered.
Victimhood is the currency of the conquered.
5
Mr. Blow, I guess you don't get it, but columns like this--which the Times is full of--is why Don Trump is President. In my opinion. There are enough people in this country who cannot stand left-wing academics, contributing opinion writers, "writers" based in NY City, most Times columnists, etc., etc., and who identify such thinking with at least one wing of the Democratic Party, and who vote Republican because of that--even for a power-abusing, simple-minded thinker like Don Trump. If it were not for the left, the Democratic Party would have done a lot better over the last 50 years. We all need to pray that Sanders or Warren is not the Democrats Presidential nominee.
21
All this politically correct whining over Native Americans, (who raided and killed each other with abandon) is so hypocritical and pointless.
When Mr. Blow demands everyone, including blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and all other “Identities” give all their money and property to Native Americans, (whoever they might be), he’s just hypocritically rambling.
History’s winners and losers constantly change, losers become winners, until they lose again. Nothing is permanent and who is “victimized” depends on when you ask the question. Germany in 45 was a loser, Germany in 2019 isn’t doing so badly.
29
Dick Gregory's "No More Lies" is still one of the best accounts reflecting true early American history.
4
It's not true that as soon as Europeans started, so did massacres. This is a pathetic lie to justify the Anglo-Saxon massacring colonization model (still in power today). The French, arrived much earlier (1534 Cartier; Verrazano) reporting that the Natives told them that trading was OK, but not colonizing. Thus the French had a trading, civilizing model which eschewed massacres. When Champlain showed up exactly at the same spot as the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, he reported that there were too many Natives already installed to enable settlement of the French.
The English colony was founded in a military-capitalist venture founded by the “West Country men”, murderous plutocrats.
Slavery was made unlawful in 655 CE by Queen Bathilde of the Franks. In 1066 CE, the Franks outlawed slavery in England. Yet, the Anglo-Saxons colonists reintroduced slavery in 1619 CE. Shortly after, after the holocaust of the Pequot war, New England cities paid for Indian scalps.
The Anglo-Saxon colonies made a fortune by growing tobacco, thanks to armies of slaves (sometimes more than 90% of some states were just slaves).
The violence and brutality of the Anglo-Saxon colonizing model enabled it to beat the French and the Spanish (who were much friendlier to the Natives, and bred with them). All of this was justified by the Bible...which is a text which justifies colonizing the promised land after killing all the Natives: that’s how “God” orders it to be… If one obeys Him well....
11
What Charles M. Blow writes rings true and has a parallel in how the Trumpests make the world their own. Donald Trump is "MIchigan Man Of The Year" even though no such award exists. Ivanka can create 14 million new jobs even thought only 6 million have been created since Trump came to power. Once facts don't matter, American life is just some fake reality that the GOP says it is.
11
Tear it all down. Tear it down.
1
And then what?
4
While I agree that the Pilgrim centric version of Thanksgiving ignore the serious crimes against native Americans the theme celebrates- we shouldn't ignore that Thanksgiving as a national holiday was a result of a Presidential proclamation in 1863 by probably the United States greatest president (I’d allow George Washington and FDR as being of equal quality.) That proclamation implicitly referenced celebrated two things to be thankful for - the Emancipation proclamation effective on January 1st that year, and the fact that the Union Victory that summer in Gettysburg meant that the Union would win over the confederacy and that: “ that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
When criticises Thanksgiving on the state level one should not ignore its original higher meaning. American exceptionalism is not a fact, but an aspiration ... and claiming that exceptionalism achieved, rather than striving to achieve it is the day one betrays that purpose, belief - and the day to stop thanksgiving.
9
One can celebrate one's good fortune, friends/or family, the harvest, the bounty of Nature, and have a feast anytime one feels like it or one has the means to prepare it. But, why one has to do it according to the national calendar, as dictated by "thanksgiving holiday"with a pseudo historical nonsensical story that is offensive to Native Americans? It is a travesty. As we have finally opened our eyes and learned the real history of pilgrims, the ruthlessness of colonialism, it would be more evolved, now in the 21st century for us, as hopefully more educated and civilized Americans to make changes to the narrative and to the way we celebrate our good fortune & our beginnings, and feasting without offending those who were massacred for our blessings.
7
So should we teach the young and remind ourselves conflict between different tribes in inevitable, burtal and justified by religious beliefs or pseudo science - Or should we teach the young and remind ourselves that the myth of Thanksgiving seeks to make us believe that we can remove ourselves from the state of nature achieve the common good. Can we just provide a small space in which we can suspend disbelief and dream that " we are better than this" Can the relentless debunking please take a deep breath and a time out.
7
Thanksgiving acknowledges the fact that all of us are better because someone helped us, even when we may not have deserved it. When we gather to focus on that very unifying truth we have a moment of clarity, even if our harmony doesn’t last till the pies at the end of the meal.
I’m not sure if Mr Blow thinks we’d be better off gathering to reflect on the aggression and selfishness that are a part of all of us, including the indigenous people who bailed out the struggling Pilgrims. I for one am happy we set aside a day to focus on our positive qualities .
16
Respectfully, not much new here. Everybody knows of the injustice done to Native Americans, no surprise there.
The "First Thanksgiving" story of the Pilgrims and Indians feasting together, caring for each other, and trusting each other is a wonderfully transcendent indication of the kind of America TODAY'S generation of Americans wish to have. It says more about US today than the legend of yesterday.
Americans want peace and harmony. Americans truly want liberty and justice for ALL. Instead of flailing ourselves for a past with which none of us agree nor over which we had any control we should focus on the positive steps we can take to achieve our common goal. And we should be thankful for the solid foundation bequeathed by our forefathers and mothers.
A very Happy Thanksgiving to all!
11
Enough already. Thanksgiving was a tool to heal the nation after the Civil War. It was a way for people to remember that even after violently disagreeing, we, as a nation, were brethren and had to move beyond real, not micro, aggressions and learn to live together again. As a primarily secular country, Thanksgiving allows our nation to remember that, at the end of the day, we are on the same side. This message needs to be internalized by everyone today or the country will disintegrate. Sorry about the Native Americans, but that was a long time ago, and we all need to move on.
27
@MJG -- Sorry about the Native Americans but that was a long time ago???? Do you believe that they are treated equally and fairly today? I do not. No, we are not on the same side.
5
I think part of the struggle to teach the true history of Thanksgiving is knowing at what age one should start. Most children start learning about Thanksgiving when they are four or five, and I think most people would agree that that is too young an age to introduce the facts about how Europeans devastated the Native American peoples. But teachers feel like they have to teach something, so they teach the aptly names kindergarten version. When students reach middle school or high school, when they are mature enough to learn the facts, there is often no room in the curriculum for it. Perhaps we should begin prioritizing including such history in middle school and high school curricula.
5
I agree that Thanksgiving can be enjoyed for what it now is, not what it was at some other time. And I even eat turkey.
What appalls me, however, are the numerous comments saying it was OK for the Pilgrims and their successors to steal from and kill the Native Americans because "that's what people have always done".
So, because there have always been rapists, it's ok to rape someone. Because there have always been liars, cheaters, and thieves, it's ok to lie, cheat, and steal. If my great great grandfather had sold his farm to someone and, instead of paying him, they burned him out, killed him and stole his farm, and therefore none of his heirs had as much as the thieves and killers, I wouldn't say "Hey, that's OK, it's just human nature.
So I'm going to enjoy my Thanksgiving with my family. But the idea that humans are despicable creatures, and it's therefore ok to be despicable, will not be on my list of things for which to give thanks.
1885
@Judy
The point is that the Indians really were no different. The Enlightenment changed things, otherwise it’s all brutal and short.
Montezuma was killing 25,000 men, women and children on his altars until
Cortez stopped it. And then did worse. Where did the light come from?
85
@Judy
You missed the context of what people wrote.
32
Agree with you. If “ people have always done that” then people who have done that will face the same fate as the people to whom they did it. History comes around. Short sighted, short term views of superiority has never served good to any group if you pull back and get a longer , birds’ eye view of history.
60
Is it always necessary to find something bad to say? Do we have to debunk every old story, every tradition? Pretty soon we'll be told we should be ashamed to celebrate Thanksgiving. Let up, man; have a nice dinner with family and friends and let it go at that.
30
The many myths of the United States of America are finally coming to an end they so richly deserve and that process has been accelerated in the time of Trump.
6
You mean Trump is just a continuation of the mindset and actions initiated by the Pilgrims?
If so, I think you have it right.
Regrettably, much of white America continues to support such.
12
While you are acknowledging some of the unsavory aspects of our history, you also may want to re-examine the notion that you seem to have that all Native-Americans were friendly, peace-loving people, when in fact many of them were engaged in repeated wars and savagery with each other long before Europeans arrived in North America. One-sided airing of historical dirty laundry is just as misleading as a sanitized version of history.
28
Man does not live by bread alone.
Let us have our myths.
Let us try to to live up to the Thanksgiving myth, just as we try to live up to the myth of the Declaration of Independence.
Unfortunately many Trump supporters cynically overlook his unlawful activities, because they think Democrats would be just as unlawful.
America is a better place because of our myths and not too many people leave this country because they prefer the myths of another nation.
4
Sorry Mr. Blow but this is mythology. Thanksgiving didn’t take hold in the United States (and similarly here in Canada) until mid-19th century. For about 250 years after the supposed Plymouth Rock event, Thanksgiving was a minor, loose, regional tradition that was celebrated on whatever day local authorities picked (New England, mainly). Per most historians, these Plymouth Rock accounts do not appear to have contributed to the early development of the holiday.
Here is the factual history of when Americans began to celebrate Thanksgiving and how it was derived. Towards the end of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and William H. Seward, then the secretary of state declared a national day of Thanksgiving (swayed by Sarah Josepha Hale's 1827 book "Northwood" - with its political significance: "the exponent of our Republican institutions, which are based on the acknowledgment that God is our Lord, and that, as a nation, we derive our privileges and blessings from Him.”). In turn they hoped this would help heal factions, unite the country, and establish the northeast as the moral compass and leader of the United States. The mythological Plymouth Rock story, which emphasized manifest destiny, hard work, community and the value of local institutions, was eventually attached to the nation-building holiday.
28
The French historian Ernst Renan observed that nations are held together by what they jointly choose to forget as well as what they choose to remember. Should Mr. Blow desire the reelection of President Trump, he will keep hammering on this theme of the unredeemable evil of American history. i
14
Growing up with stereotypes and textbook lies
there are many of us who share the frustration and disgust with the real dominating history of violence that surrounded that one, fateful, peaceful Thanksgiving.
Conflict aside, the fact is American Indians, European settlers and African Americans all lived side by side, intermarried and traded for centuries... in fact millennia when we include ancient Egyptians and ancient civilization before the Younger-Dryas impact 12,800 years ago rose the ocean, long before Puritan Separatists arrived to profit off the slave trade. 1620 was a time of piracy, plague, invasion, alliance, and betrayal. It’s truly amazing there was a peaceful dinner at all.
Another article on this same publication “Everything you learned about Thanksgiving is wrong” educated me that the pilgrims were not pilgrims but “separatists.” Maybe they knew Queen Elizabeth was going to die in a few years and protestants would be on the run? But they still maintained their cult... financed by a corporate board with interest... So they came for “religious freedom” AND to enforce their religion.
The land at plymouth was cleared mainly by smallpox brought by Champlaign, Smith, and various pirates. The Puritans were headed to Jamestown but only stopped because they ran out of beer and refused to drink water they believed unsanitary.
But when did the Puritans figure out they were just slaves themselves for the Massachussets Bay Company? When the menu turned to corpse?
3
It's all true. We were lied to as children and even what we learned in US history was pretty whitewashed. Having said that, Thanksgiving remains an important gathering point for families around the nation. It's here to stay.
So how do we continue to have our family gatherings without condoning the sins of our ancestors? Perhaps we could donate to a charity that supports Native Americans, like NARF. That doesn't change the past, but it's better to do something than nothing. https://www.narf.org/support-us/
11
It never ceases to astonish much effort people spend on soft-shoeing truth and history instead taking things at face value and accepting reality.
“Yes, we know the truth”. Well, I didn’t know any of the particular historical facts Mr. Blow shared in the column. And despite my affluent public school and private college educations, I doubt I’m alone.
“Let’s be grateful for what we can make of the event - time with family”. Let’s take a not-so-hard look at this day - frantic, overcrowded (and deadly) road and mass transit traveling followed by even more frantic, overcrowded and deadly crazed shopping. And as for spending time with family, can’t we make an effort to do that outside this peculiar tradition?
I think lots of readers will feel slighted by Mr. Blow’s column because of an insinuation that, by participating in this national tradition, they are perpetuating/participating/celebrating what the Pilgrims did.
If that’s the case, perhaps that’s their conscience telling Mr. Blow is morally correct in withdrawing from this “celebration”.
Alas, “let’s be practical”. Pragmatism has never made for true progress.
Thanks for the column, Charles.
2
I guess Trump is right. The tradition of Thanksgiving is under threat by the Left because it is deemed oppressive to people of color and native Americans. People can’t just enjoy their turkey anymore or say a little prayer of Thanksgiving without being hounded by the thought police. Thanks, Charles, for raining on everyone’s parade with your self-righteous little history lesson.
28
Most Americans live in a delusion about the history of our nation. I live in the hope of what it can be not in what it was. The ignorance, hate, hypocrisy, and lies that make up a large percentage of the American people's views on our nation as personified by Donald Trump and the Republican party are in many ways a reflection of the true history of America: genocide, slavery, and exploitation.
This is what our past was and in many ways what our present seems to be, but I have yet to give up on the hope of what kind of nation we can become; the hope that some day the reality of who we are matches the high ideals of our most sacred documents, and the myth of who we pretend to be.
5
I wholeheartedly support historical facts being brought to light. I too was taught the Hallmark version of the Thanksgiving story but it would not be appropriate to teach young children some of the more disturbing details. Most holidays contain more than the Hallmark version and the rest of the story should be revealed. We celebrate Christmas although Christianity has a bloody, violent past and committed many atrocities in the name of G_d. Perhaps Americans are an optimistic bunch and prefer to see the cup half full for a day or so; let's not fault them for that.
3
It's articles like this that may get Trump reelected. Let's hate on America some more - we haven't done it since yesterday.
23
@Stephen Smith; Exactly. the liberal media do nothing day after day but gnaw at America with the tooth of detraction, people get tired of it; have they nothing good to say? Even if Mr. Trump is not ideal at least he's pro-America.
7
@Stephen Smith
You may be right. It seems that Trump supporters hate the truth almost as much as he does.
1
O no, now he is trying to wreck Thanksgiving;
apparently Columbus day is not enough. we
can either recognize the mistakes of our
past,acknowledge them and make sure that
they never happen again or we can wallow
in unending misery and listen to the Charles
Blows of our country trying to rename and
ruin every holiday with their guilt drenched
historical revisionism. I choose to live my
life and celebrate our national holidays
free of guilt. Happy Thanksgiving !
24
Instead of virtue signaling, personally tithing holiday pay benefiting Native American cause. Concrete action,otherwise just empty hypocritical rhetoric.
13
It is also true that every country you go has thousands years of history of brutal wars and genocides. One population and culture was replacing another over and over. America is not unique in this regard. Should we have a feeling of guilt because of our history? Not more than the rest of this bloody world, in my opinion.
19
I just finished reading this wonderful book Lies My Teacher Told Me...Everything your American History textbook Got Wrong
When you read the real stories of how we perceive figures in history as heroes, you will never again think of holidays like Thanksgiving, Columbus Day (In 1493, Columbus took everything he could see...). One that saddens me terribly is when Woodrow Wilson at the Versailles Treaty in 1918, failed to hear Ho Chi Minh's plea for his country's independence (how many we lost in Vietnam?) his segregating the federal government which fueled the KKK. Back to celebrating Thanksgiving? I really don't have my heart in it. The Pilgrims did not clear the wilderness. The Indians had leveled the brush in fields for agriculture. The whites dug up graves to take, gave smallpox blankets to wipe out villages. Even Squanto had been sold as a slave, educated in England. When he came back, his tribe was gone. Even then he tried to help the Pilgrims. (which was difficult as the white settlers brought over Old World superstitions like if you bathed, you would get sick) They stunk! This holiday sickens me. Please read the book. Truth is more important than construction paper turkeys.
7
With these dark days having a holiday like Thanksgiving can be as healthy for our souls as the food is for our body. Where this came from has a dark history, a dark history in a time of dark historys. The best thing we can due is hope we are forgiven our trespasses and that we can forgive the trespasses of others. Then we should strive to do as little as possible to do anything we would need to be forgiven for. Look back occasionally to remember why you left but keep your focus on moving forward. So Charles and all of you, have a Happy Thanksgiving.
2
Happy Thanksgiving Charles!
So tomorrow I think we will celebrate a revisionist Thanksgiving honoring such pre-contact traditions as polygamy, raiding and kidnapping from neighboring villages, and living in a society untroubled by its own unwritten (no writing) history but existing in perfect sustainable harmony with the natural surroundings.
I’m getting anxious about your next columns—are you going to inform us there’s no Santa Claus?
16
Oh Charles, there you go again. A "wonderfull Plague" - wonderful had a different meaning in 1620. It was generally used to mean "astonishing" or "strange". I'm not condoning the whitewashing of the story behind Thanksgiving, but you're the Sean Hannity of the Left in the lengths you'll go to deceive.
20
I just like Thanksgiving to get together with my family and celebrate living in America...
8
Mr. Blow: It is good that you write about the History of Thanksgiving. However, I believe the qualification of "horrible" is not necessary.
4
The legend of Thanksgiving—cultures coming together, giving thanks for what we have, despite our differences—is exactly what we need right now in this divided and distrustful American culture. Sadly, this is lost on Blow who, in his attempt at horrible truths in all things, seems intent on lending credence to what seems like outrageous claims by Trump and Co about the elitist threat to Thanksgiving.
I mean what’s next? Would you care to ruin MLK Day’s celebration of civil rights by remind us that MLK was a philandering plagiarist who hit women? I prefer the MLK I learned about in school and celebrate every January.
We need heroes and healthy myths sometimes, Mr Blow...in addition to villains. Without heroes and legends that bond rather than divide, we will falter as a society. See: America, present.
16
Thanks for this insightful and informative piece, Mr. Blow. As always, I very much appreciate your honesty and refusal to accept myth over fact. Our country's history in its dealings with the Native population is a shameful and horrific one. Perhaps we can all share in the positive attributes the holiday has come to represent, while being aware of its sordid beginnings. And vow NEVER to repeat such atrocities. Sincerely, Phoebe Toland
2
Some wit, perhaps Twain noted that the Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving for being saved from the Indians, while we celebrate it for being saved from the Pilgrims.
7
Thanks for the history lesson.
4
And the debate continues....Everyone knows the first Thanksgiving was in Jamestown, Va. predating Plymouth by 17 years.
Jamestown colony starving not yet having resorted to cannabalism were temporarily fed by the Algonquin and the Powhatan. The myth of who Pocahontas truly was starts her too, it was she that intervened on behalf of the colonists that the tribe feed them. We know that to be true because John Smith said so. He was a great embellisher of truth.
That is still how the story is taught in Va. The first Thanksgiving was in Jamestown not Plymouth.
Unfortunately, this is human history -- the good with the bad. Every civilization is afflicted by it, so I don't see the reason for being a wasp at the picnic. Does this author seriously think he's contributing something to the conversation by attempting to ruin an otherwise nice holiday? What a kill-joy.
9
Man....why don’t we tell all the kids Santa is fake too? We all know this....can we for one day not focus on the worst elements of history?
11
Sounds as though you been re-reading Howard Zinn's seminal copy of The Peoples History of the United States. We have more skeletons buried than the Catholic church and the British Empire.
3
A little history is all it takes to debunk a myth, but a lot of history teaches us just how important such myths can be in guiding the future. In other words, we shouldn’t trash the Thanksgiving myth for its historical inaccuracies. We should begin rewriting it so that it provides us with a more compelling vision of our future. Unfortunately, our politics are at present so divided between Republican reactionaries who long to bring back the old myths and Democratic debunkers like Mr. Blow who want to expose them as hollow lies. We desperately need new myth makers who can square the circle and bring us together again.
6
I'm thankful to live in a land where we can bear to have the historical record corrected. I'm an American, and I can celebrate the good and carry the burden of my ancestors' crimes on Thanksgiving Day. I can be grateful and know grief in the same heartbeat.
9
Yes, people who existed centuries ago traveled thru their lives journey with a level of consciousness we can only label as sick, un-evolved from any human construct of current expectations of consciousness, dysfunctional, etc etc etc
I don't think there's a human on the planet who doesn't already know this among those of us who care about such matters.
Some are too busy trying to live in the present moment to waste energy giving away their much improved reality in trade for the primitive concerns of those long past who, for all concrete purposes, might as well have existed in another universe. Because it was.
Identity politics on all sides do not educate or enlighten, they only divide us for just as in personal relationships, the truth is in the middle somewhere and in no circumstances whatsoever has a relationship been good in which the only thing one person did was remind the other of every sin ever committed by them with no slack giving for a more fair truth.
We have nothing to gain by slicing up universal human nature into a game of musical chairs to determine who to blame and hate.
Were it not for identity politics, were things functional, people would let the bad go away & celebrate the lessons which is that war, divisions & conflict that halts human progress & kills hundreds of millions of human beings is bad.
And certainly don't highlight the things that caused the divide while dismissing all the good which is what identity does when it rules consciousness.
5
Charles is right to reflect on the the history of the settlement of the New World.
Then again, as I will take the liberty of corrupting a line from the Man Who Shot Liberty Valence: When the legend conflicts with the facts, print the legend.
1
I think the focus of Thanksgiving should revert much more to the day Lincoln envisioned and enshrined. Now more than ever, since the end of the Civil War we need a day to reflect, put aside differences and try to regain a sense of gratitude for the blessings and ask forgiveness for our failings, as family, friend and a nation. It will be difficult with the current leadership but as least we can try in our homes to begin to live and love in harmony.
6
You can’t know the Truth, until you learn the Facts. As always, Sir, thank you you sharing the unflinching Facts. And YOU have the BEST facts. A day of rest and reflection to you and yours, and to all your loyal readers.
May the next Thanksgiving find us all on the road to recovery and justice.
8
Charles,
I think the anguishing subtext to your column may be lost on quite a few: these past three years have forced many of us to re-evaluate what kind of country we’ve all been residing.
The blinders are indeed coming off for many.
Embracing national myths is no longer a luxury, but a liability in this Post-Truth era.
Keep contributing to the always noble struggle of calling out hypocrisy.
No matter how discomforting.
11
To the many, many upset people because of a correction of historical inaccuracy, or "raining on the food fest parade", it should be possible to acknowledge history AND have a nice time with friends and family. I hope we can hold more than one thought at a time in our minds. And being upset because a smear on our collective past is brought to light because it may ruin our day is typically narcissistic of our species in its current, self focused state.
I instead will thank you, Mr. Blow, for continuing to share information that leads to greater understanding and knowledge. If anyone doubts that we are a deeply flawed species that should be striving to improve daily, just look at one day of news.
We are all capable of so much more...and we all too often sink to levels below our potential in so many ways.
10
Thanks for supplying more GOP talking points.
Nobody is celebrating the horrors. Everybody is celebrating warm feelings with friends and family and memories.
Thanks for finding scouring, researching and digging and finding more reasons to hate.
Sorry we are not as pure and you. Sorry we like to enjoy this time of year with family and friends.
My family and friends are educated and understand the dark moments and use this day to celebrate family and great memories.
44
In addition to writing the true history of Native Americans into Thanksgiving, we should recover its unappreciated progressive historical content.
After the Union victory at Gettysburg in July 1863, President Lincoln called for a day of Thanksgiving. Lincoln liked the idea so much, he issued a proclamation on October 3, 1863, calling for a national day of Thanksgiving to be celebrated on the last Thursday of November. The proclamation says nothing about Pilgrims, but is entirely about the preservation of the Union in the face of the adversities of the war.
In President Grant’s 1868 Thanksgiving proclamation, he stated that among the things for the nation to be thankful for is that “civil and religious liberty are secured to every inhabitant of the land, whose soil is trod by none but freemen.” By the way, Grant has gotten a bad rap as president – Confederate apologists have long sought to discredit him because of the 15th Amendment and the civil rights statutes.
Due to Lincoln and Grant’s connection with the Thanksgiving national holiday, it was not celebrated in the states of the former Confederacy until after the Compromise of 1877. To achieve national (i.e., white) unity around Thanksgiving (since the Jim Crow system was being established between 1877 and 1900), this required a reframing of the Thanksgiving holiday as a day for family, football, and Pilgrim stories, rather than a commemoration of the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery.
19
Great piece by Mr Blow. It is interesting how many Americans here continue to hold Germany accountable for its treatment of Jews, Gypsies and others in World War 2 but will not accept they have the same responsibility to the Native Americans. Does this mean in 100 years or less, Germany will no longer be held accountable for its actions? Is there a date stamp by which when genocide should no longer bother those who perpetrated it or benefited from it?
As an aside, there are example of countries changing national days celebrated just as strongly as Thanksgiving because of what it represents for the native peoples. In Australia currently, local councils and many Australian citizens are no longer celebrating Australia Day as it is also known as Invasion Day to Aboriginal people.
Part of Australia's atonement for the brutal treatment of its native people will likely be that a day that used to be focused on family, good times, good food and relaxing (sound familiar) will be changed to reflect the very legitimate views of Aboriginal Australia.
Maybe it is time for the United States to also really atone for its genocide against the Native Americans, in the way it still demands of Germany, and changing the Disney-like focus of Thanksgiving and its failure to fully embrace the Native American genocide will be part of that.
I think Mr Blow could have been more persuasive with his article given increasing Western precedents for what a genocide atonement looks like.
12
The Pilgrims recalled the bloodbaths of Protestants in England and France... Marian persecutions and the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. A bloody violent time in Europe then too. Under Mary in the late 1500's... Protestants were drawn and quartered in public.
Not in any way trying to excuse the savagery of the colonists in the Pequot War, or the earlier Wessagusset Affair. It was a brutal time, and the Pilgrim's pastor John Robinson pointed out: "where blood is once begun to be shed, it is seldom stanched off a long time after.”
Sadly, just about every human culture has had horribly savage incidents.
Celebrating Thanksgiving isn't a denial of those incidents, but it is a hopeful choice to remember and encourage much more productive behavior.
I don't want to burn down that urge with cynicism.
13
The early settlers didn't understand the concept of infectious disease.
15
It is true that the arrival of Europeans doomed indigenous people and culture in the America. But Thanksgiving was really not part of that story, even if there were more Indians than pilgrims there.
3
I didn't grow up here, and I like Thanksgiving mostly because I like to cook and have friends over, and I like the idea of giving thanks for how lucky we are. America has a terrible history in how it treated and continues to treat the indigenous people. You should address that rather than making a stand on what brings people together at a holiday.
7
Moral of the story, the people with the best weapons win. Looking for a happy ending or justice? Not in this world. It’s the same human story millennium after millennium after millennium.
10
Completely astonished at how ready people are to deny or paper over the bloody history of this country. You can be thankful while also acknowledging the truth of our history.
14
@Alejandro F. Okay, Alejandro, but can it wait until Friday?
2
To the victor go the spoils. The narrative of this nation is centered on the tribe that conquered the indigenous populations. Our stories and mythology serve our view of white exceptionalism. It will take as a few hundred more years to unwind the ugly truth and expose the underbelly of what the Europeans wrought on this new continent. That being said, a small start is to be kind to all, provide comfort where we can and realize that there are other stories out there. Enjoy the spirit of the day.
4
We might as well oull the plug on the whole thing. Why do we celebrate this anyway? Football? Cranberry sauce?
We're approaching the point where everything in our culture hurts someone else. So let's strikethrough Thanksgiving, Columbus Day, and all the other Federally-recognized holidays. We can still have turkey, or not, on any random day.
Why do we need holidays anyway? It's just another day.
2
While there is a long history of cruelty by the European colonists, and later the US, towards Native Americans, Blow gets a lot of the history wrong here, or he doesn't understand how it fits together. While well-intentioned, this piece treats Native American groups as monolithic. They weren't. They had a diversity of languages, cultures, political structures, and interests. Glossing over those differences is part of the reason harmful caricatures and myths about them have proliferated through the American historical consciousness.
Take for example, the Pequot Wars. This was not a war between the English and the Wampanoags, as Blow describes, but a war between the Pequots (duh) and an alliance that included several groups of Native Americans and English settlements. There were a variety of conflicts like this in the early years of the colonies that often did not fall along straightforward Europeans vs. Native American lines, but rather along lines that sometimes divided indigenous groups AND the colonists of the different European powers. Glossing over these historical realities attempts to fix one flawed, over-simplistic retelling of our country's past by replacing it with another one.
25
You forgot about football.
It’s about family, food and football. Being with people you care for and love and sometimes barely tolerate.
Not everything has to be political or politically correct.
9
Oh geez. Thanks for reducing a lovely holiday about family & gratitude to nothing but a laundry list of historical grievances.
Does Mr. Blow realize that EVERY culture on the planet has, in some fashion, engaged in war, slavery, murder, discrimination and "horrible history"?? Even the black and brown cultures?
That's not to say American Thanksgiving is immune from criticism, but man, it certainly does not exist in a vacuum. If we viewed the entire world through the lens of historical oppression, nobody would be able to enjoy anything anywhere.
23
I'm not Jewish, but maybe tomorrow I will suggest, that like the untouched cup of wine for Elijah, we should have a plate set out for the Great Spirit, who will deliver us out of another 4 years. We just have to figure our if Campbell's Green Bean Casserole will do the trick, or whether it will be held against us...
7
Mr. Blow the truth of the matter is this. All cultures have been killing each other since the beginning of time and honestly we're no different. There are always winners and losers. America was colonized by white Europeans who turned out to be the winners. Thanksgiving shouldn't be a negative reflection of that but a reflection of people thankful for what they have with their families' or life in general today. in today's time no one has killed indians to enjoy thamksgiving. in today's time the best way to move forward is to honor our families and expressed gratitude. it best honors the martyrs of thanksgiving past.
9
About the king's characterization of the plague devastating
the indigenous people as "wonderfull"--though other language in the king's patent indicates he believed the devastation was divinely ordained, at that time, "wonderfull" meant "causing wonder or astonishment," not what it means today.
10
Tribalism is part of human nature. And one result of tribalism is really bad behavior by one tribe against other tribes. The beauty of the traditional Thanksgiving is that it is part of the American tribe's longstanding tradition of expanding the American tribe to include (sometimes subsume) other tribes -- Italians, Irish, Eastern Europeans, Asians, Africans -- into what had been a purely Anglo-Saxon tribe. It used to be called the "melting pot" and was thought to be a good idea because it expanded the American tribe.
Mr. Blow is part of the crowd that seeks to divide (destroy?) the melting pot by separating the tribes (now called identities) and encouraging them to fight each other.
Let's just be Thankful for the melting pot that is America and still unique in a world of tribes.
7
Human beings do bad things to one another, both personally and in groups. This has always, and will always be true. Europeans came to the Americas where they butchered and enslaved Native Americans (Native Americans had been butchering and enslaving each other for thousands of years already by this point, so it was hardly a new experience).
Every society on Earth has committed atrocities, genocide and slavery. We are all descended from monsters.
If we're all guilty....then none of us are.
8
Before his death in 2012 my son was a struggling stand-up in the LA comedy club scene, with a tendency toward irreverent comedy. To this day those closest to him remember how he would wish them Happy Genocide Day every year at this time.
8
I get your point, Mr. Blow. But one must also keep in perspective that the Thanksgiving story for kids should be the more gauzy one. There is nothing wrong with being exposed to what is a mythologized view when that is the best that one may be reasonably expected to comprehend. Would you take away Santa Claus? Same sort of myth for kids of idealized possibility and imaginings.
It is enough in some circumstances to get through the Holiday peacefully with one's own family and circle of friends. As one gets older, certainly more of the full scope of the holiday, the full telling of the good, the bad, and the ugly is warranted. Then one will have more ability to appreciate and consider the impact of the story, with all the layered nuances.
3
“We would be blissfully blind, living in a soft world bleached of hard truth.”
This seems to be the case for a lot of America today. Sad.
7
Thank you Charles. Most Americans cling to a false American
Narrative. America was founded on genocide, slavery, the theft of Native American and Mexican land.
They embrace willful ignorance by viewing Wars of Empire (Mexican American War, Spanish American War, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan etc..) as “mistakes”.
Hideous crimes against Humanity such as the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are defended being necessary to
save (American) lives. Imperialist coup d’etats which install
brutal dictatorships are ignored or viewed as leftist propaganda.
At this stage of history it is dangerous and cowardly to continue
to embrace an indoctrinated falsehood because it takes us out of
comfort zone.
9
Sorry, I'd rather not spoil the holiday.
6
The woke left should be thankful this year that Trump is so odious. That's the only thing that will keep me from gleefully voting against these depressing, woke virtue signalers next November. Trying to make me feel guilty for the first day off I've had in months ain't going to cut it. Focus less on why my days off are bad, and more on why the 40 hour work week is a thing of the past.
8
Charles, you are part of the problem. I would love to see a day when we all identify as AMERICANS. Obviously, our American history includes horrible acts by early white settlers and agents of the English crown. It’s time to drop the resentments and focus on how we can be inclusive TODAY, and be thankful for the life we have as Americans.
13
You know what? He's right. If one would compare whatever one feels are one's current woes to the plight of native Americans in the 17th century, he or she could hardly complain. This really puts everything into perspective.
3
Why would Mr. Blow want to live in the North East USA if he believes the horrible narrative he presents about the early history of Plymouth I grew up in Massachusetts and spent every summer of my young life in Plymouth. As kids we loved to imagine ourselves as the CaPo Indians (College Pond Indians) who everyone in Plymouth considered our early friends and helpmates to establishing a viable life there. Nothing Mr.Blow presents really proves that the Pilgrims and local Indians (Squanto is still a local - Plymouth - Indian hero) didn't have a good rapport.
Things got complicated later - when the not so religious settlers came in great numbers - but the early history was of very religious Christians who had no prejudice towards Indians. I find it reprehensible that Mr Blow and others want to destroy the wonderful Thankgiving story which nurtures so many of he values we liberal Americans cherish now.
I am an historian with a PHD from Columbia University and demand that before a better study of this story be widespread that a better study of the early history of the Plymouth Puritans be done.
12
From the beginning of time stronger tribes/peoples have subjugated weaker ones. In Exodus, the Israelites took Jehrico, In New Testament times the Romans had seized Palistine (remember Pilate?). The Norsemen took Normandy in France around 1000 CE +/- and then a generation or two later took England in 1066 (remember William the Conquerer was a Norseman). We should understand our history, for sure. But we should also understand the context. Myths are what we celebrate in both religious and civic contexts. That we are examining our favorite myths with a critical eye is a good thing, but myths, especially aspirational ones, help unify the society.
8
A myth is still for the most part some truth laced with the truth. If a myth is all a society/cultural has it isn’t worth saving. That includes this one.
2
I thought of reading Jane Yolen's Encounter, the metaphorical and visually stunning story of Columbus's arrival on the shores of the island where the Taino people lived, to my granddaughters with whom I will spend Thanksgiving. They are 6 and 4, very bright, and I think the story of European encroachment on indigenous territory in North America would be controversial for them. Much like the one Charles Blow tells, the story is told through the eyes of a Taino boy. I used to read it to my kindergartners every year in "celebration" of Columbus Day. We must make children aware of the consequences of white domination so they are not doomed to repeat or tolerate it.
12
@Susan London
Columbus Day is even a worse 'holiday' than Thanksgiving.
When Columbus first set foot on Hispaniola, he encountered a population of native people called the Taino. A friendly group, they willingly traded jewelry, animals, and supplies with the sailors. “They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces,” Columbus wrote in his diary. “They do not carry arms or know them....They should be good servants.”
These natives were soon forced into slavery, and punished with the loss of a limb or death if they did not collect enough gold (a portion of which Columbus was allowed to keep for himself).
Between the European’s brutal treatment and their infectious diseases, within decades, the Taino population was decimated.
He was arrested by the Spanish Government
In 1499, the Spanish monarchs got wind of the mistreatment of Spanish colonists in Hispaniola, including the flogging and executions without trial. Columbus, who was governor of the territory, was arrested, chained up, and brought back to Spain. Although some of the charges may have been manufactured by his political enemies, Columbus admitted to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that many of the accusations were true. Columbus was stripped of his title as governor.
Columbus was a horrible human.
16
While we may aspire to some higher ground, this desire does not and should not lessen the impact of where we have been and where we want to go. The real question that the author raises is the relative focus to be given to these three categories. I get the impression he places too much weight on the past whereas as the ones complaining about the complaining place too much emphasis on some ideal future.
I prefer to observe the day that President Lincoln made official in the midst of civil war in anticipation of peace within our country.
20
All this is true, but it is not hidden anymore. Our National Parks for one interpret this history. So they tell the story of white treachery.
And among nations, which peoples do not mix a creation myth along with dark truths. Thanksgiving Day has become its own thing. Thus we honor what is in essence a harvest festival for a nation that has been fortunate to avoid the famines that ravaged the old world. We can't spend all of our days raking ourselves over.
5
Charles...Every country, every century, every generation has brutality behind the feast. Pick one. Pick all. However...I give thanks for family, friends, health, and blessings. That is what I will celebrate tomorrow, won’t you? Remember that. This holiday with thanksgiving in its very name has far more meaning to me than any other holiday.
32
Amazing the tone - Native people are real people. And they have not forgotten, any more than African -Americans would forget their intergenerational trauma. This is not about re-examining history, it's about right now, this moment. These people live with their own stories and the story of the majority culture - both European descent and cooperate profit oriented - make no room for them. What is lacking is the conversation - the hard conversations with people with other experiences, other cultures, other lives, and acknowledging that while you aren't thankful for what your ancestors did to anyone, you are thankful that they are with you now, taking the time to educate you and others.
7
My goodness, not a day goes by where there isn't a headline about the terribleness of white people.
Thanksgiving. The meaning should be clear enough, and the actions you take on that day are not bound by rule or law or even tradition. Thanksgiving day needn't be nailed shut because of the past. Go watch the N. Scott Momaday special. He has not forgotten a thing of the past (in fact he's teaching younger people to remember it), but he's absolutely filled with thankfulness and wisdom. This column misses that ideal, that reflection can lead to thankfulness in many forms. Mr. Blow, sadly, seems geared up to miss the chance to practice thankfulness, even just for one day.
46
as it happens, I am both a descendent of John Rowland the pilgrim and Elizabeth Tilley, Mayflower passengers who were presumably present at the first Thanksgiving, and an American history buff well-acquainted with and horrified by the horrors of the European conquest of North America. Nevertheless, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, an occasion for gathering with family, sharing a wonderful meal and lots of love and laughter, and being grateful for the blessings that life has bestowed on us. It's the one day I won't think about what Trump is doing to our country, or the disaster of climate change or the myriad of curses that rain down upon us. It's one day on which we all can give ourselves a break.
8
I am convinced and henceforth will believe without qualification in the irredeemably maleficent nature of mankind. Examples of the contrary are but instances of disguised hate for evil purposes. After all, King James set us all right, he who saw all.
Finally, thanks to Mr. Blow, a lesson which can set our children on the right path towards love, harmony and optimism. It's all so clear now.
5
Well Mr. Blow, your belief about America's druthers would be wrong. Most adult Americans fully know of and accept our complicated and often disturbing, violent history. Most adult Americans are also proud of the morally transcendent episodes in our history that have led to freedom for all Americans to pursue pretty much whatever they want, and, at least in one instance, saved the planet from despots.
Few adult Americans project childhood innocence onto the present, or on the past.
11
The whole country is built on an array of myths, hence it is not likely all these will be replaced in the minds of the American public. There are so many it is hard to keep track. Not only would compiling a list be contentious, but it is not likely we could all agree on any list.
What Mr. Blow mostly discusses is the notion of myth as "... widespread but untrue or erroneous story or belief; a widely held misconception; a misrepresentation of the truth..." (OED entry).
This is not an innocuous process and in the case of our varied national stories these beliefs have been destructive. A problem with any form of "enlightenment" is how effectively it can be done. Who will the debunking help?
We have problems at a state level as to what our children are allowed to learn. Textbooks are riven with falsehoods that cannot (for now) be extricated. Is there value in debunking an old myth to upset a modern convention or perception? Often there is, but sometimes it is hard to tell. Which myths depict some semblance of true stories and which do not?
Should we tell the truth no matter what?
It is not that I doubt the details Mr. Blow outlines, but can we face the harsh truth in every single corner? I wonder and maybe over-think this.
1
OK. We all know that our history is fraught with stories of people behaving badly toward one another. I didn't really come here to argue, however I believe the real reason we celebrate Thanksgiving is because of some decree made by Abraham Lincoln probably toward the end of the Civil War. Some of the things we take for granted, such as the Christmas story, as well as the Thanksgiving one, are myths. It seems that a deeply troubled President was trying to bouy the spirits of a horribly divided nation. Sound familiar? So, what do we do when we are discouraged? We count our blessings. Not a bad stategy. How the tale of the Plymouth Colony got into the mix, I have no idea. It paints a pretty picture, I suppose, a uptopian view of the world. But we celebrate This Day because someone was trying to help people feel better during an unimaginably difficult time in our history. Feel free to take down the Pilgrim decorations, Native Americans, too. They really had very little to do with any of this.
6
We can go back in history and choose any number of events where people were abused and exploited. It does not justify these atrocities but hopefully we learn from past mistakes. Our goal now should be to treat all people with dignity and respect regardless of their nationality, color or religion. We are in this together and life is not always easy or fair. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
7
We should know our history - all of it - the good and the bad.
Here's a fact Mr. Blow does not mention - the Pilgrims took a leap of faith and came to the "New World" in search of religious freedom.
Within six months of landing, half would be dead. They cared for their sick, and then buried them at night in unmarked graves so Native Americans would not see the depletion of their ranks.
The fact the Pilgrims survived at all was cause for them to celebrate and express their thanks. They worked to have good relations with Native Americans, and invited them to partake in their celebration of life and survival.
You can belittle that if you want, but it's a simple story of gratitude. It's a good story, worth repeating, worth celebrating.
12
I always thought that the pilgrims came here to prevent others from having religious freedom.
3
Its been discussed elsewhere in the NYT that they actually came by way of Holland, where there was some religious freedom, and that they may have come to New World to make money and/or set up a Puritanical religious state.
1
It’s hard for me to share in the negativity displayed in this piece and in the comments of many NYTimes readers. Thanksgiving for me is a day to be with family and to be thankful for being American. I have to be overseas this week on a business trip. And I miss both America and my family.
30
Negativity? Is that what you call it when the truth collides with your desire to eat a dead bird in peace? The two are not mutually exclusive. Maybe give a thought to the people we Americans destroyed to have our happy, prosperous life while you have it. Maybe thank them on Thanksgiving. Their ghosts will appreciate it.
3
Reading this reminds of going to see A quite Passion, The Emily Dickinson Story, with my friend.
As we left, I said:"Ok, now let's go home and watch something to cheer us up, like The Exorcist."
4
I learned this history in elementary school in the 1970s. Perhaps the schools are better in Massachusetts.
12
The subtitle to this essay asked us to "please remember why we mark this day" but only relates the darker history of the interactions between Pilgrims and Native Americans, and the longer story of the expulsion and extermination of Native Americans from most of the continent at the hands of white settlers. So why do we celebrate this day?
In my family, we do not celebrate Thanksgiving as an historical event. It is a time for being thankful and at the same time being cognizant that others are not so fortunate.
It is true that one can be simultaneously humble, thankful, and generous; and self-satisfied and prideful. It is true that nations recreate their histories in a gauzy, golden haze of mythology. It is true that in America, our holidays are accompanied by a merchandising extravaganza that uses the symbols of holidays while ignoring what the symbols stand for.
So, there are many reasons for people to feel ambivalent about holidays. Mr. Blow, if the horrible history outweighs the positive potential of Thanksgiving, don't celebrate it. I am sure you express thanks for your blessings in other ways.
7
The unity of a country is often cemented by its common narratives and while truth is a valuable commodity, I think there lies danger in shattering identify myths. If truth is your only criteria, then there is no shelter. But if your objective is the betterment of the People, to enable them to improve their behavior in the future, I have to wonder what is better: to hold that the settlers were good people whose goodness should be emulated and commended, or to prove that they prospered by perpetrating near-genocide.
History may teach us humility - but it may also reinforce the view that success is achieved by disregard and disrespect for the rights of other peoples, and I do not think you should be risking that outcome, particularly at the moment.
3
William Bradford’s Plymouth colony survived largely because of the help it received from Squanto, who taught the Pilgrims how to hunt, fish, and farm in the New World. As a result, the colony thrived, increasingly encroaching on native territory as the colony’s growing population demanded more land. Thus began one of the first native resettlements that eventually led to the Trail of Tears. If Squanto could have foreseen what disasters awaited the American Indians at the hands of the white settlers, I wonder if he might have left the Plymouth Pilgrims to the famine and death that wiped out other Puritan colonists.
5
Every person I'm related to, and just about every person I know, is already aware of the "The Horrible History of Thanksgiving". Most learned about the horrific atrocities committed against native peoples in school. How you missed it is beyond me. I can hardly imagine anyone forgetting classes explicitly describing, through words, illustrations, and dramatic recreations, germ warfare and genocide.
Any who didn't know about the Wampanoag people can just watch the show "Parks and Recreation". The writers all learned about the atrocities in school too as the maps and murals throughout the show how terribly the "Wamapoke Indians" were treated by settlers.
One map shows the entire massive geographic region in tinted blue, with only a few tiny white dots on the surface. As the local politician "Leslie Knope" (played by Amy Poehler) states, the tiny white dots are the only areas where atrocities Didn't occur. As Knope states in exasperation on another occasion: "We really need better history". Impossible, and she knows it, but that's the entire point being made: acknowledge history and change the present and future.
However, you seem to want to tell us something you strangely think we didn't already know, so go ahead and do what you do: lecture us.
Everyone I know will at most say what they're personally thankful for, if anything. No one says anything about the wonders of Thanksgiving, because we've known for our entire lives that the history of Thanksgiving is horrible.
3
Humanity’s history is not always paved with good intentions. Still, if we learn the lessons we can move on and avoid massive future errors. But, that’s not always possible either. So, we cope the best way we can. We have a divided country, a demoralized and almost decimated middle class and democracy. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees notes that there are 60 million displaced people - from wars and climate change. About 16% of the world population would like to immigrate some place far from their homes. Life’s never been easy.
However, in the US today, we have the opportunity to recover our destiny by ousting Trump and now Bloomberg. Neither’s values are good for the whole. Let’s use thanksgiving to unite our families and regroup for change in 2020. Nothing less is acceptable.
4
You are right, it is a terrible history. But had it not happened, contact would have been made another way before the advent of antibiotics and antivirals, and the Indigenous population would have been decimated at another time. Thank goodness for the development of western medicine, that has saved so many billions of people from horrible deaths. Also, thank goodness for the western tradition of writing and recording history, so that we can track terrible histories like this. Mankind's slaughters of each other in other cultural traditions are lost because no record was kept of them.
All the same, will be a moment of silence at my Thanksgiving dinner in memory of the loss about which you write, as there has been for years.
17
@Snowball Non-Western cultures also wrote and recorded history.
Blow is absolutely right. We should acknowledge and remember this history.
And also, we should do the hard work each year, and with each generation, to build new meanings around Thanksgiving that reinforce the reasons so many gather to celebrate.
1326
@Patrick
Happy Thasnksgiving to you. And thank you forma bringing this up.
A proud senior vergetarian. Since muy 30s. Free of high blood pressure cholesterol and the like.
Former neighbor of wild turkeys. I lived for many years close to the American River in Fair Oaks and sun River where wild turkeys roam through the housing áreas during quiet times of ThE day like today. Which gave me an opportunity to be so thankful to be there.
I also visited relatives un Gold River where deer un this time roam the parking lots empty reclaiming if just forma day their former full time territory!!!!!
27
For Mr. Blow’s sake, I’m sure there’s a Twilight Zone or Three Stooges marathon on TV during the day. Maybe we can celebrate the day motivated by Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation, wherein Lincoln implored the Almighty to “heal the wounds of the nation.” The phrase is apt today. If our early history was sufficiently scarred to have warranted mythology, we need not be prevented from using the day to redefine what we should be as a country. A culture thrives when it is able to chronicle its defeats.
3
It's always the victors who write the history. The rewrites occur, if ever, generations later, by those who were the victims.
Agree or disagree with that behavior, that's how it's always been and how it always will be. The only way to determine the truth is to find by yourself and for yourself.
5
Such a selective take. First, he quotes Indian sources that say the Pilgrims were cruel. Why’s that better than American sources that say they were kind?
Relations deteriorated- so what? If they were good at the time, that’s fine too.
But lastly, who cares? In retrospect, and when judging people who are no longer here and can’t explain or defends themselves, everything seems cruel and horrible. But you miss one thing, Mr. Blow- the America that allows you to look back, criticize, and expect better today is a direct development of that America, flaws and all.
So this Thanksgiving, I’m grateful that those early Pilgrims helped America develop into a country that has a moral compass and a desire to right wrongs. How wonderful!
44
@Jose -- The inequity with which Native Americans live with today is STILL unfathomable and I am not aware of any forthcoming changes. The treatment of the Native Americans in the young times as a country was abominal and it still is as far as I am concerned.
7
@Jose no we don’t have a desire to right wrongs because no one wants to at least talk about reparations for slavery. Moral compass? Oh please don’t get me started.
2
There is a good side to Thanksgiving which you have uncharacteristically ignored. Lincoln made Thanksgiving a legal holiday during the civil war. I presume you still think Lincoln was one of the good guys.
28
@James Ricciardi Unfortunately, though"Honest Abe" was staunchly anti-slavery, believed African Americans were entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" his views on African Americans would be considered White Supremacist and Racist today. So he is no longer a good guy in many "woke" circles.
2
@Kno Yeh You are wrong. His views evolved considerably during his relationship with Frederick Douglas. Remember, he went to the door of the WH to let him in for dinner when his servants refused to. "Woke" should mean an entire person's life, not just the part before his enlightenment. "Woke" is a ridiculous concept anyway in my view. It treats all epochs in history as if they happened simultaneously which is completely at odds with general relativity, where there is no such thing as simultaneity.
6
If there were new or original research in this article, it might be attention-grabbing. There isn't. A painting that reduces the size of the Native participation is trivia: the painting is a contemporary European depiction, not a photograph; tell us what the Natives painted on their own. The story of European disease among the Indians is not only a commonplace, it isn't even contemporary with the "Thanksgiving" meal.
Everybody knows that the "wild man" of the New World meant "Stone Age nomads." Shakespeare himself voiced suspicion of them (but sympathetic suspicion). Say something mildly original, not this predictable PC grousing on a holiday.
12
While the author mentions so called Thanksgiving Day myths he provides scant evidence to support these myths. He simply rants about European treatment of Native Indians, which is certainly beyond deplorable but hardly news.
Yet what about Christmas, a holiday celebrated by countless millions who pay homage to Christianity, a religion that supported slavery, carried on bloody inquisitions, and persecuted and murdered Jews, among other things. Will the author be treating us with a similar lecture come December or will he be celebrating the event?
9
I take exception to your story telling whereby you state that the Christians murdered Jews unless you are referring to Hitler's Holocaust. The beginning of Christianity in the first century was lead by the Jewish. To this day the first testament of the bible is shared by both Christian and Jewish people.
1
I have been studying the same material in recent days.
Another aspect is the narrative itself Plymouth being many years after Jamestown.
After the Civil War the northern narrative took precedent.
The best thing that could happen to the many earliest settlers was to escape to the Indians where they were treated better then under the harsh English indenture rules, they were known as “Maroons”
Indians were treated horribly for hundreds of years in the northeast
William Apess a Pequot Indian remarked in the 1830’s that he wished that whites would stop hissing at him.
6
“Maroons” were actually run-away African slaves in South America.
Even more enlightening, if possible, is a book by J.S. English entitled "Indian Legends of the White Mountains".
4
Every holiday covers some horrible lie. But I do like that pumpkin pie
4
I'm going to go back in time with the history of the cruel fate of our Native American tribes here in California. We find that it was not the Protestant pilgrim but instead the Roman Catholic Church under the order of the Pope and executed both literally and figuratively through Father Junipero Serra and his followers. We do not hear much about Thanksgivings during that era, but we do know of these first Americans being used as slaves, infected and dying through European diseases to which they had no immunity, as well as their forced conversions at the risk of violent abuse. This is our legacy throughout these United States. And sadly we have not evolved enough. This cancer of domination spread to our African Americans and in this present day to those of brown skin whether from Central and South America or from the Middle East. Perhaps during this Thanksgiving and for the days to follow, we can give thanks not for our material amenities but instead for this creation or creator which brought us rich, diverse cultures that make up the tapestry upon which a true democracy rests. I will not end this on a political note. Rather, to you Charles and my fellow commenters, have a beautiful day of gratitude and love tomorrow.
12
For those of you with difficulty accepting your own history and transgressions, you need to study and go back even further.
“1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them.”
-Kurt Vonnegut
Happy Thanksgiving!
21
This is why we want to end “Columbus Day”: all he discovered was a populated hemisphere complete with sophisticated civilizations.
Thanks for sharing this, Charles. A nice complement to this piece is this from The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/11/25/the-invention-of-thanksgiving
The Trump Crowd will bellyache about all this. However, the truth will not hurt us.
Bon Appetite!
8
The history of this country we have been taught is filled with lies and omissions.
6
Thanksgiving is yet another shameful whitewashing chapter of wretched American history on a long ugly list of shameful whitewashes.
From Native American genocide, expropriation and wars to African-American enslavement and bondage to stealing Mexico's land in the southwest, white European imperialism has always shined its milky white Christian supremacy over anyone with different skin color or a different religion.
It's an ugly American history book that goes on for 400 years of racially-infused depravity right up until 2019, where one major political party elected a certified Birther Liar who rose to political fame by denying that the nation's first African-American President was not a citizen.
I hope future American schoolbooks present a more balanced picture of American history than the whitewashed fairy tale that Charles Blow and I were presented with as children.
America is a good country, but its history is much uglier than the sanitized White Wonder Bread version many subscribe to.
This nation owes a debt to Native Americans that it can never begin to repay, but still it should try.
Thanksgiving should be renamed Native American Day after the only real Americans that ever existed.
Everybody else is just an immigrant or a descendant of one.
Native American Day should be a day of national contemplation, remorse, atonement and reconciliation.....NOT an embarrassing celebration of gorging, discount shopping and consumer vanity.
A little respect for the natives.
145
Thanksgiving predates the Pilgrims. They were celebrating an ancient tradition of harvest home, giving thanks for the Fall harvest. Such thanks givings have been a tradition throughout Europe for centuries before the Pilgrims ever set foot here. Indeed I think it is a very widespread human tradition in any region that has a true winter. I imagine the Wampanoag May have had a Fall feast tradition as well into which this feast with the newcomers seemed to fit. Also, I don’t know where the author heard the Thanksgiving story but in the early 1960’s when I was in lower school we were always told that it celebrated the incredible generosity and lifesaving help the native people gave to the Pilgrims when they were sick and starving.
26
@Socrates, you state that the US stole Mexico’s land.
Really?
Which land?
Was it the land that the Mexicans had just stolen from the native American tribes that were there already? Or was it the land Mexico tried to steal from them and couldn’t (there was a lot more of that)?
And those native Americans who the Mexicans stole it from... was it the Apaches? Or the Comanches? You see the Comanches drove out the Apaches from their lands, all of which, at the time, was considered “Mexican.” Well, by Mexico, at least. I don’t think the Mexicans asked the Apaches or the Comanches.
“White European Imperialism” is a lot more complicated (and interesting) in actual history than it is in the fantasies of the politically correct.
62
@Socrates. We truly need to dump Columbus Day too. That day should be Indigenous Peoples Day.
17
The world in the 1600's was a cruel, violent place. The strong preyed on the weak. If you refused to prey on others to maximize your strength, odds are you would become the prey.
The Aztec, Mongol, Zulu, and Ottoman Empires were as cruel as any European, Christian Empire. It's simply delusional to pretend that things like conquest, genocide, and slavery were done only by Europeans. In fact, during the Trail of Tears, fleeing tribes brought their black, African slaves with them.
If "pure" people were the only ones worth celebrating, we would have no one to celebrate at all.
117
It is articles like this that further my understanding on how the NYT has lost a huge swath of America. Everything cannot be looked at through the a 21st century prism. Every article does not need to be written from the perspective of an aggrieved party.
130
When the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, they failed to get a valid Visa stamp from the local Pautuxet Nation. This makes all white people here illegal. What part of illegal do you not understand?
10
I'm multiracial, but I want to be deported back to Sweden. My niece and nephew, however, are Mayan, so they belong on this continent. I don't.
1
Looks like you hit 'em where it hurts, Mr Blow. Good job. It's past time for this hypocritical nation to see the horrors of it's past and that the horrors and the cognitive dissonance continue right down to the present.
10
Columns like this are why people hate politically correct doctrine. You guys insist on turning everything into an opportunity to moralize and lecture. Nobody wants to hear it.
114
@Derek, or learn. I think most people understand the reality and continue to celebrate the idea of giving thanks as a group. Many years ago most of us did learn a very slanted version of reality. That was disturbing but doesn't negate the value of Thanksgiving today.
11
It's not political correctness, it's historical correctness.
8
It's not who attended and in what capacity Charles, it's all about giving thanks. What are you thankful for Charles?
10
I agree we should leave Thanksgiving the way it is, a time to give thanks to what we have and share a meal with friends, family, and loved ones.
Maybe we can designate October as Native American History Month, acknowledging their history and contributions and remember the sacrifices they endured.
6
November is Native American month.
1
Do we have to know history to give thanks for everything we have today, Nov. 28, 2019? Sometimes I think knowing the history of our own families, whether good or bad, does us little good in the present. Even looking backward at our own lives -- the choices we have made, the people we have hurt, the people who have hurt us, our successes and failures -- can warp our perspective and color our decisions and actions today. I think there is great personal benefit from admitting to yourself and someone else the things you have done wrong, making amends to those you have hurt and forgiving those who have hurt you. That's hard enough.
3
You left out an important detail about the real history of Thanksgiving, Charles. It was unknown outside of it's native Massachusetts until the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln declared it a national holiday to elevate the founding narrative of the Yankee North over the earlier founding of the Cavalier Jamestown, which had it's own Thanksgiving tradition centered on Berkley Plantation.
8
Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. Blow!
From a naturalized African immigrant who believes America still represents the better of humanity!
“But I’ve come to believe that is how America would have it if it had its druthers: We would be blissfully blind, living in a soft world bleached of hard truth.”
You can replace ‘America’ with any country, race or ethnic group and it would be true.
1954
@T Mekonnen
How true. Most European countries downplay their involvement in Jewish genocide. Virtually every country has some history of slavery, but it's rarely acknowledged.
We also need to remember that the Native Americans were not much different from the European settlers. Fighting and war between tribes was common, as was human sacrifice in some Native American cultures.
132
@T Mekonnen
It is true that America as an Ideal represents the better part of humanity, but reality often tells a different story.
It's no surprise that we have never fully realized those Ideals; mankind has always fallen short of its greatest aspirations. The sad thing about America today is that it continues to drift away from these Ideals as something sacred; and instead, flouts them to the rest of the world in the greatest display of hypocrisy ever seen.
100
@T Mekonnen The Horrible History of Thanksgiving ...unbelievable. After all the things we have been through as a country...this writer wants us to focus on being miserable. Why? Before I fill my plate, the last thing I & most people want to be thinking about is wars, atrocities, & bloody battles. Most of us are grateful that we have this beautiful moment to share with our loved ones. Thanksgiving for most Americans is about being with family and friends… enjoying great food, great fellowship, and maybe great football (Go Alabama!). That's the true spirit of this holiday and how it has been celebrated for generations. This point can't be emphasized enough...NO ONE needs or is going to feel guilty about events that happened 300 years ago when none of us were alive. Ridiculous! We are aware of our country's treatment of the Indians, we know it was wrong...but this isn't the day to obsess about it. The people I know choose to deliberately focus on what we are thankful for because it changes our outlook in life. There are things to be glad about in every situation, but we have to be looking for them. That’s what thankful people do – they count their blessings rather than wasting time grumbling, complaining, and spreading negativity. I would rather be intentional about gratitude every single day and usher in the holidays with a joy-filled heart. What a truly awful, embittered, and shockingly ill-timed editorial. This is very disappointing. You guys can do better than this.
198
I think it must often be necessary, in the moment, to share a Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family without a sense of its history, both the best and the worst of it. There have to be such times if we are to live worthwhile, connected lives with each other. At the same time, one of most crucial responsibilities of a democratic electorate is learning the nature of the founding and subsequent history of the nation. Without that, we become unmoored from the founding ideals toward which we ought to be constantly reaching. Perhaps the most terrible result of that unmooring is the reality of the election of a man like Donald Trump, himself completely lacking any semblance of those ideals. Democracy requires much of its citizenry, not the least of which is that historical/political understanding, and the courage and the willingness to try to live up to who we planned to be. When too many of us fail in that essential requirement, Abraham Lincoln's 1838 warning comes ever closer to reality. "As a nation of free men, we will live forever, or die by suicide."
4
Also.....43 million beautiful birds are killed for this holiday. The Turkeys are denied every basic instinct such as fresh air, ability to see the sun, walk or mate with their own kind. They are kept in large industrial warehouses breathing in ammonia and sometimes suffer broken legs as they are bred to be larger than what is normal (hormone injections). Where is the compassion?
17
It's pieces like this that keenly illustrate why Fox's ratings are going up and other news outlet ratings are going down. You don't see paywalls at Fox, the BBC, the Associated Press, UPI or Reuters do you?
Thanks Charles, for your inadvertent efforts to help get Trump re-elected.
28
I guess my school learning experience was different. Native Americans were at the center of event, and we can be thankful for that regardless of what came later- a story of which we are all aware, but is not what this day is celebrated for. There's enough blame and hatred throughout the rest of the year, we don't need to add it to tomorrows holiday.
7
All this history is true.
At the same time, I love this beautiful day that is celebrated by all Americans-- whatever religion or non-religion they may be, people of every type and from every country who have come to our shores. I love that I can sincerely wish Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, with the hope that they will be able to share a day of joy and abundance with their families or friends. I am grateful to be with my crazy and beautiful family, and to take the time to consciously be truly grateful for food on the table and a roof over my head--and to remember the imperative to do all we can to help those who do not have the security of food, shelter, freedom of movement, and freedom to exist in peace.
That's what Thanksgiving means to me.
10
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for keeping it real. We don’t have much of that now, do we?
The countless atrocities done to Native Americans, all in the name of a Christian deity, disgusts me.
Always has. Always will.
17
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18 I just commented on how Native Americans were treated here in CA by the Catholic Church via Junipero Serra. We have missions from So Cal to Sonoma, all beautiful but only in their architecture. They were built by the slaves of the day, our Native American tribes. They were treated cruelly and brutally. If they were not killed by the hands of "Papists," they died from European diseases and downright exhaustion. It seems as if to this day too many Christians in one form or another refuse to learn and continue to defy the love and compassion of Christ. But on a cheerier note, have a nice Thanksgiving tomorrow, Sir Red Sox.
3
While historically accurate, somehow enough people have found a way to turn it into a time of togetherness and celebration. Families don’t get together to celebrate atrocities and white supremacy. Moving on is not denying the past wasn’t always that great.
9
Tomorrow I will remember my fortune at having been born in this United States of America. I will be aware that comfortable life is
11
Uh-oh. Is this the opening volley on Trump's "War on Thanksgiving"? Let's hope not.
3
This is factually true—Charles Blow is very rarely inaccurate—but what are we to make of it? The reality is all countries are, at some level, traceable to acts of violence and extermination. (Read the Bible, for a start.) The question is what they make of it. In what ways does acknowledging this make us better people, and what is the lesson we learn from it?
9
400 year old history is hard to do something about or to atone for. I think the question to ask is whether we are doing any better today. I would say not. We destroyed the country of Iraq because we could, and because we have so much money that nobody else in the world dares utter a peep against us.
8
Oddly enough, this piece neglects to mention how Thanksgiving has morphed. Therefore, thinking about thanksgiving only through the lens of Native American genocide is rather one-sided. Before the Civil War, thanksgiving was celebrated only in New England (for obvious reasons) and was unpopular in the South.
Its evolution into a national holiday began around the time of the emancipation proclamation. Abraham Lincoln decided to repurpose a regional holiday celebrating genocide into a national holiday that celebrated reconciliation between warring factions and, by implication, the end of slavery as we knew it. Over the years, it has just become a time for families to get together and is a rare national tradition in a country that is home to people of all ethnicities, faiths, cultures, politics and economic backgrounds.
Everyone in my family came here from East and South Asia. We now hold Hindu prayer meetings, followed by Indian brunch, every thanksgiving (one of the oddest and most amusing things I’ve seen). We can focus on all the worst aspects of our traditions and paralyse ourselves with public expressions of contrition we don’t actually feel or we could repurpose those traditions to celebrate the best things about us - like holding a Hindu (or Muslim or Buddhist) prayer meeting to mark thanksgiving or being thankful for our capacity to change for the better. I’m drinking to that.
22
@Pacific
I'm giving thanks for your perspective!
2
For those who don't want unpleasant information, I remind you that Charles in an intellectual; he researches facts and passes them along. Obviously for some its Just Too Much Information."
5
Remind me not to invite Charles to any Holiday gathering, the ridiculousness of this article is contained in the first paragraph,
Where Charles reminisces about his Childhood Thanksgivings, they were filled with family, love and happiness , but now not so much?
Let’s tune in next week when Charles Destroys Christmas Eve and Hanukah,
23
I think Hannukah also started with a war...Christmas was a pagan holiday, Yuletide, stolen by Christians.
Yes, Mr. Blow, I know.
What to say about a nation that regards itself as a beacon
of social democracy, a shining light on a hill, inspiring
hope for all those who live under less fortunate circumstances.
What we really have is a long history of perfectly shameful treatment of minority peoples. We slaughtered Native-Americans, enslaved Blacks, and heaped all kind of prejudice and intolerance upon minority groups who serially emigrated to America. As if this were not enough, we have cyclical political and social compaigns which aim to cleanse American culture of elements that otherwise sully our White Christian roots. You know, to Make America Great Again.
Of course, the joyful celebration of the first Thanksgiving among a community of equals is certainly pure fiction. Of course, we conveniently blinker ourselves to the racism and violence that permeates our history. Of course, we wish that those individuals who insist that we acknowledge the ugly truths of our past would, you know, just go away.
10
@Christy Vaile please reference a country in any part of the world that doesn’t have a history of violence, etc. Maybe that doesn’t fit the liberal narrative, but that was the world hundreds of years ago. You also conveniently forget that Western Europeans (Irish, Italian, etc.) were discriminated against upon immigration to this country. But alas, they learned the language and assimilated. Another fact that destroys your narrative.
7
Thank you, Charles, for being a strong moral barometer in this age of extreme outrageousness. Happy Thanksgiving!
8
It’s a bit overdramatic to say the author is saying you’re not allowed to enjoy Thanksgiving anymore, if you can’t handle the truth of the matter then maybe that’s your conscience telling you something is deeply amiss.
We have the same emotional argument every year in Australia around Australia Day, some see it as a day of mourning, others see it as a day off work to lay on the beach and get drunk and listen to “The Hottest 100”. Not many notice that most aboriginal people don’t care either way, as they are too busy dealing with the alarming youth suicide and juvenile imprisonment rates, among many other problems. Unfortunately our first people don’t usually get to celebrate Australia Day, they’re not living the Australian Dream, they’re struggling with the aftershocks of massive historic family displacement, alcoholism, having to use a welfare card instead of having access to cash, being watched every time they shop, having their kids taken off them, not having their basic needs met or even understood.
It’s ok to celebrate family and country. It’s also ok to have perspective, and to ensure our children grow up with a true understanding. All the more to be thankful for.
10
If I was American I wouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving.
2
@Glenn Davey
Actually, you more likely would celebrate it if you'd grown up American. It's woven into our familial culture irrevocably from an early age.
We think of it as a time to gather with family and other loved ones, and are thankful for all we have. Only the pundits and some parades link it with the Pilgrims.
Do you think of your country as a penal colony?
13
Please! Let's just learn from the fact Western Europeans believed they were "ordained by God" to "conquer" the Americas. Simplistically; "God, Glory and Gold" and if the natives were in the way, too bad.
Let's make this a learning experience. Any form of racism or genocide is bad. The fact it occurred 400 years ago doesn't negate it happened.
Look into your heart and give thanks for what we have and keep fighting for doing the right thing for our fellow travelers.
10
Actually we mark the day b/c Lincoln realized we needed a national holiday after a brutal civil war.
12
@Bill Hamilton - Thank you for pointing out the truth. Kindergarten stories are not historical fact. 1939 marks the first year Thanksgiving is celebrated as a "National Holiday".
3
Wow, what a fun hammer! I choose to enjoy the activities of the day with family and other loved ones.
13
Well, Chuck, thanks for the holiday thought. It seems to me that the issue is not the historical reality, but the aspiration to be better. Not to be better Pilgrims, or better than Pilgrims, but to be better humans. Not how the Pilgrims behaved, but how we aspire to behave and the values we hold. If we look at history as a means of taking away our utopian delusions of human beings behaving admirably at some point in time, it seems that we might just make such a dream seem all the more unattainable to to subsequent generations caught up with the brutality and selfishness that humans are subjected to in everyday life. Perhaps the moral of the story is that in spite of the reality we entertain - perhaps even strive for - the kinds of things promised by your "gauzy memories" impact how we behave today. Make humans unredeemable and you enter some pretty dangerous territory. Anyway, have a happy holiday, Chuck, and don't eat too much turkey. Before you write your Christmas article exposing the brutality of the crusades, however, please bear in mind that even the Grinch - who stole the roast beast (justified by his own pessimism)- realized something larger in himself on a special day. Happy Thanksgiving.
4
However much it's become fashionable to rethink traditional holidays, I think most people celebrate Thanksgiving in order to enjoy a feast with the people they love, and to remind oneself to be grateful for one's blessings. No one is looking to celebrate the subjugation of indigenous peoples.
3380
@The Buddy : it is entirely possible for one event to be both good and bad. Perhaps we could add a prayer to our traditional celebrations asking God to forgive our trespasses against the indigenous peoples of Massachusetts and elsewhere, while celebrating his bounty. The Buddy is right.
127
@The Buddy Indigenous people are still around, though. They may have a meal with family and friends too. Indeed, I hope they do. But I can't imagine they enjoy the sanitized historical version that's told to white children.
193
@The Buddy One can celebrate one's good fortune, friends/or family, the harvest, the bounty of Nature, and have a feast anytime one feels like it or one has the means to prepare it. But, why one has to do it according to the national calendar, as dictated by "thanksgiving holiday"with a pseudo historical nonsensical story that is offensive to Native Americans? It is a travesty. As we have finally opened our eyes and learned the real history of pilgrims, the ruthlessness of colonialism, it would be more evolved, now in the 21st century for us, as hopefully more educated and civilized Americans to make changes to the narrative and to the way we celebrate our good fortune & our beginnings, and feasting without offending those who were massacred for our blessings.
190
Charles, I'm guessing by now most of us hold no illusions about the white man's brutal conquest of many countries including ours. Are there really many readers who don't know that most the history and civics we learned in school were severely lacking in truth?
I'm inclined to think most of don't sit around the table thinking about the historical context of the day, but rather look at it as a day to be thankful for whatever family we have, or health, or fortune even if we're barely getting by. It's just a tradition, Charles, like Christmas is a secular holiday for millions of us. It's a way to make sure we get together with the family we have or the family we choose, break bread and enjoy each other. I hope your Thanksgiving is full of the same.
2559
@Jrb Why can't we also show gratitude for all the good things the "white man" have done for global civilization? Like democracy and common law? Why is everything framed through the lenses of resentment and victimization?
On a related note it's deeply hypocritical for the left to point out all the unique non-European cultures of the world, but immediately turn around and group all people of European descent under the vague term of "white" ... whatever that means. Not all European nations took part in colonization; not all European persons approved of what their governments did.
270
@EuroAmerican who says only white men gave the world democracy and and common law?
111
@Jrb If you are alive today it means that somewhere in your ancestry there are bloody handed individuals. "..white man's brutal conquest..." Sure... everyone else is squeaky clean. In Asia and Africa and all else (but not Europe) for the past ten thousand years they were all as gentle as lambs with one another. It was paradise... until the Europeans began to spread out and invented violence towards their fellow man as a means of furthering ambition, yes that makes sense.
Next we'll see a editorial about how Genghis and Kublai Khan were just fictional characters made up by European colonialists.
149
Listen to Charles. Read him. Then read him again.
The quote from Winston Churchill, “A nation that forgets its past has no future,” wouldn't be quite so dire, given where we are in time and given what we, as a people, choose to know about our beginnings.
We keep going in circles, rather than seek truth, reconciliation, and reparations.
Everything bad this nation goes through goes back to its beginnings, cycle after cycle. It's time to look truth in the eye and face the future with courage and determination never to repeat this cycle of history again...
1445
@Rima Regas
I know you quote Churchill unwittingly and while his quote is apt it is also ironic that he said it.
Churchill authorised an invasion of Turkey at Galipoli by Commonwealth troops to try and secure access to the Black Sea. Thankfully, the Turks under Ataturk were able to repel the Commonwealth soldiers, or else their land would have been taken away like that of the Wampanoag.
During WWII, Churchill also authorised the diversion of produce from India's Bengal region to the European theatre. Millions would starve to death in the Great Bengal Famine that ensued. So rife was the suffering, even conscious-stricken British officials tried to persuade Churchill to alleviate the famine. He refused. Ships sent by Australia were prohibited from unloading relief supplies at the port near Calcutta.
We shouldn't forget Churchill's past either and must be open to all truths and not just on Thanksgiving.
176
@Jack
You can go back to when Churchill was a young man in South Africa.
We are complex human beings, highly intelligent and capable of both incredible acts of courage and valor as well as abject cruelty.
72
@Rima Regas sure we can deconstruct everything and rightly so. But the question remains where do we go from here? Right now I no longer see a credible overarching idea on the horizon that warrants keeping America together. In fact, I would argue that the only thing keeping America together now is a swinish devotion to economic consumption. The American project is doomed, and I expect it to dissolve in my life time. The Russians and the Chinese have their own problems like ours but they will not cede their national myths to the truths of history and will probably triumph for that reason. Never underestimate the power of willful ignorance in human history.
62
Maybe it would be better to reframe Thanksgiving as a generic day of gratitude for the bounty of the harvest, as is done in many countries at the end of the growing season. The vast majority of us think of it as a general day of thanks anyway, not something tethered to Pilgrim mythology.
1726
@short of time No, maybe it would be good to confront the history of white supremacy in the United States. Unless, that is, you have a motive for preferring not to confront it.
38
I'm pretty sure we can - and should - do both.
81
@sedanchair
That's a hair absolutist, impractical and sanctimonious. What's necessary is to describe it honestly and explain that it has evolved.
No pure people ever existed.
56
Mr. Blow---This Thanksgiving, I want to say that I am thankful for your amazing articles that I look forward to and that continue to interest and inspire me! Have a wonderful Holiday!
8
Meh. Some folks might be celebrating the Mayflower or whatever. I'm looking forward to being with my family. Sue me.
31
Mr. Blow,
There is no doubt that as Hobbes said, in a state of nature, life is solitary, nasty, brutish and short.
It is my understanding that the Mayflower Compact was humanity’s first attempt at a written social contract.
For your next article, would you please explicate the conditions in which your ancestors lived in 1621 - no sugarcoating - the whole truth about any slavery, genocide and/or degradation meted out on a daily basis.
I choose to be aware of our history, yet thankful to live in a society that at least has aspirations, no matter how often thwarted by human frailty.
21
I have often suggested that healing the divide would involve truth and reconciliation but judging by the comments America really can't handle the truth.
9
Your column reminds me of an SNL episode with Debbie Downer. Yes, the history is warped, but what it is today is kind of nice. All societies have myths.....and traditions based on myths.
25
Here’s a piece by a Native American that suggests we acknowledge the history but continue to celebrate the values of togetherness, gratitude, family etc., and to enjoy and support Native American foods: https://time.com/5457183/thanksgiving-native-american-holiday/ To me that’s a much stronger approach than this column takes.
7
The article just asks us to acknowledge our history... why does this offend?
1
Good grief, perhaps for one day we can give it a rest; i.e. the leftest relentless drive to destroy the country's mythological roots. I'm a lifelong (moderate) Democrat that is increasingly surprised by unbidden impulses to vote for Trump. Put a lid on the nonstop PC indoctrination.
82
@BD Hear! Hear!
12
Mr. Blow you and others like you is the reason I read the Times.
How true your article is, I am past my mid-eighties and feel sorry how America seems to be going down hill daily. I would not want to live anyplace else but it is sad.
Thanks again for your thoughtful writings.
4
I assume you aren't celebrating - based on this column that would be hypocritical. Trump declared today there was a "war on Thanksgiving". Please stop giving him fuel for the fire.
11
Horrible history of Thanksgiving? Try the horrible history of mankind. It is a never-ending quest for power, conquest, riches and those things can only come, ultimately, from the destruction of others, at least that was so during the time period of which this country's founding was a part of.
If American history prior to the arrival of the English or the Spanish was less bloody than afterwards, it was only because the Native Americans lacked the technological means of a more deadly warfare. Superstition, slavery, murder, rape, genocide, human sacrifice were commonplace in these societies before their subjugation.
I'll celebrate Thanksgiving for what it is: a celebration of life despite its precariousness, buffeted as it is by forces within and without our control.
68
We can't change the past, although we can all strive to understand it better.
What almost everyone can do, today and every day, is choose compassion over the brutal, senseless and completely unnecessary slaughter of innocent animals. Over 40 million turkeys are murdered every year for this holiday alone. If you haven't already done so, make this Thanksgiving one where you show respect and love for the animals with whom we share this Earth.
6
Good grief. That's not what Thanksgiving is about in America today. And honestly we have no idea what happened 400 years ago. No source of information is valid. Here's what we do know: on Thanksgiving we gorge on turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie and cranberries with people most of us would rather not be around. There's a parade on TV and football games. This all is merely a preamble to the disgusting day that follows known as Black Friday. Welcome to America, Pilgrims.
8
I typically get annoyed when I read Mr. Blow’s column, and today’s is typical, because it is moralistic and full of outrage. Even though I agree with him about a lot of things, his indignant rhetoric is off-putting. In Mr. Blow’s column, Whites and Europeans are implicitly “all bad” and non-Whites “all good.” For example, Thanksgiving serves as an occasion for recounting centuries worth of Whites’ atrocities against Native Americans. What is the Trail of Tears doing in an article about Thanksgiving?
40
Human history is filled with one people despoiling and destroying another because of selfish motives. The fairy tales we learned in school are one form of our delusion and denial. Today is no different than 500 years or 1000 years or 2000 years ago. We come up with many rationalizations but the basic truth is we are not as smart or as enlightened as we like to think we are. What separates us from the other species on the planet? Not much. Like our cousins the apes, we are basically tool makers who have gone beyond our ability to cope with the "tools" we have created. In fact, one could argue that there are more enlightened species on earth that will be here long after we have destroyed ourselves. Perhaps this holiday is a time to appreciate family, relearn some humility and rediscover what it means to be decent and compassionate towards others.
6
We only become better as a nation if we honestly remember the evil events of our past as well as the praiseworthy ones.
8
The myths of how wonderful and consenting the aboriginal natives were about European invaders were multiplied and manufactured throughout the USA. The state of Virginia history textbooks fail to describe the size, symmetry, sturdy construction, and civil governance observed in native communities.
Instead, natives were depicted like nomads, dragging dogs, dried skins, and food and sleeping naked under the stars- yet another successful myth to show the Euro invaders as civilized colonists who brought piety and order to a lawless chaotic world.
To see some remnants of the complex civilizations, public buildings, and cultures that were destroyed by European colonists and USA military - visit the Smithsonian Native American Museum
5
Thank you for this information. As an Italian-American, I don't observe Columbus Day. I also helped restore the Axum Obelisk from Rome to Ethiopia which was stolen by Mussolini. Symbols and traditions are vital to our common humanity. Like good friends and family, we must be truthful to one another. Your worst enemy will only tell you what you want to hear.
There are points, I believe that we can pause and understand a holiday like Thanksgiving with historic information such as you have shared. Do any Native American tribes observe Thanksgiving? If so, I wonder how it is done. I say this because maybe it is possible to observe it in a respectful way toward all people, as a day of unity and peace as Abraham Lincoln had envisioned when he proclaimed it a national holiday.
We all live in "America" a European label given this land and many of us speak either English or Spanish, also European imposed. We can all use these words, labels and symbols, if you will, to reach toward a better world by understanding each other. So many times I victims of historic discrimination and oppression have transformed or interpreted traditions and symbols for empowerment. Dr. King did this on so many occasions, especially from the pulpit.
I will try to have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow because it was not always "happy".
13
@Nicola DeMarco, Sir, it's very obvious you are a good and honorable man.
4
Thanksgiving is also tied up with our national history in other subsequent ways. President Lincoln's proclaiming it a national holiday in 1863 links it to the struggles and sacrifices of the Civil War.
23
I am personally grateful for writers like Charles Blow, telling us what we need to know rather than what we want to hear. He always has a distinctly thoughtful but forceful way of expressing truth to power.
Maybe Thanksgiving could morph into a day to contemplate humility as well as gratitude.
23
You do realize, don't you, that all creatures of the earth--reptiles, mammals, insects--all creatures, kill each other for territory, food, you name it. We are no different than the other living beings that have evolved and continue to evolve and compete for resources.
Whether you like it or not is another story, I suppose. But you must acknowledge that we're not really different than other living beings. Human beings are not above other creatures in this regard. We're the same.
17
@CatPerson
The whole idea of culture and civilization is that we have evolved an ethical code beyond what other creatures have. We are animals, yet we strive to be more than that. In truth, it's been a mixed blessing, with religion and group identity often facilitating unethical behavior. But killing others not a "like it or not": when we violate our moral codes and harm others it's our failure to live up to our potential, not an expression of our nature.
5
@CatPerson You're kidding, right? Humans aren't "above" other species, but far below them. No other species has killed off entire populations out of greed. They kill for food, and sometimes for mating territory, which is what humans did many years ago. They don't lie, cheat, and annihilate for profit. Lions didn't wantonly kill all of the wildebeest in Africa so they could drill for resources. We, of all animals, are supposed to know better. Apparently we don't.
5
@CatPerson The point you're missing is not about some Darwinian truth, but the fact that what we say about ourselves and what the truth is are two entirely different things. We are a nation built on lies and hypocrisy. But by all means, turn your attention to what he's not reporting.
1
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for debunking the rose-colored version of this holiday and for reminding us of our country's truer nature, one of rapacity gilded with fantastic and infantilized origin myths. I had researched the underpinnings of all the other major holidays (some other real doozies) and had somehow missed Thanksgiving.
That said, I celebrate friends and family apace just as you do.
11
Debunking??? NO ONE is uncritical of pilgrim myths. Train left the station 50 yrs ago.
7
C'mon, Charles, holidays needn't always be history lessons. Thanksgiving celebrates, as the name implies, the virtues of thankfulness and gratitude, which are always in short supply. For some time we've overlaid this with an idealized tale of two different peoples getting together to break bread (or whatever it was they ate) and give thanks. We know about all the intolerance, both current and historical - why not celebrate the ideals for a day - that's what it's for, IMHO.
66
It's been 40 years, but Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" was a book we used in our 8th grade Humanities class, so the word has been out there for a while now.
27
I have been wondering how to reconcile this Thanksgiving with the Day of Mourning celebrated by the descendants of the Wampanoag tribe in Massachusetts and other Native Americans. I can't. They are incommensurable events when seen through the lens of history and experience. Like Lauren (another commentator), I don't think that many of us are still subscribers the the "gauzy kindergarten version" of the first Thanksgiving -- or a facile multiculturalism, either. I don't quite know where to go with this individually or culturally. However, with all due respect to Charles Blow, I will not use this occasion as yet another club to bludgeon a day that is one of the few times many Americans come together with family and friends in the name "hard truth." There has to be a better -- and more inclusive -- way to continue the process of what for lack of a better term, I will call racial accountability and reconciliation. I had hoped to read something in the NYT that would help point me in that direction. I'm disappointed, but not surprised. At the same time (another contradiction) I sort of get it -- all at the same time.
13
@Jane Doe The truth shouldn't stop you from reframing what this day means to you now. Pretending never makes me feel better and connected. It makes me feel duplicitous.
1
I have always preferred to think of Thanksgiving as a celebration of the Fall harvest season and the bounty that we enjoy at this time of year. Of course it's nice to celebrate a nice, seasonal meal with family and friends and reflect on good things. This simple tradition is quite nice. All the rest: the nonsense about a coming together of native people and Europeans, the incredible shameless consumption (black Friday?), the senseless slaughter of a mediocre tasting fowl (at least in the States) and mountain of stress placed on families to "enjoy themselves" has transformed a simple thing into yet another over-blown marketing opportunity for corporations. I know also that many families can't celebrate together these days because of the poisonous cultural conflicts between family members. My how things have changed since my childhood.
12
It simply cannot be wrong to gather in the late fall with loved ones, thank God or Nature for our blessings, and partake of a traditional ritual meal together. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday—religious but not sectarian, American but wildly inclusive, simple and lacking in the orgy of excess and decoration that Christmas has become.
Yes, the myth behind Thanksgiving masks a more complex and often tragic history. Perhaps we should place more emphasis on another part of the holiday’s history: the nationalization of Thanksgiving (previously celebrated at different times in different states) by Abraham Lincoln at the end of the Civil War, to give thanks for peace and to help bind up a nation that had been bitterly divided. That tale seems more than relevant today.
65
Well, the history of 17th century New England was indeed complicated and bloody, but this is a highly selective account. For instance, there were indigenous tribes on both sides of the Pequot War as some tribes sought to exploit their relationship with the English to gain advantage over tribes. Relations between indigenous peoples and the English were indeed tense, but early in the relationship the Puritans and the Native Americans made genuine efforts to co-exist, even if those efforts were eventually doomed by the subsequent waves of European immigration. The most authoritative, and less "politically correct," account of the social, political and ethnic context surrounding the events of the first half of the 17th century in colonial North American can be found in Bernard Bailyn's excellent "The Barbarous Years." To be honest about the earliest history of Europeans in America is to come away with a much more nuanced set of impressions - if you want to see a picture more consistent with Blow's narrative you need to go south, to Jamestown and further south to Spanish America.
31
@Michael Hogan Yes, that selectivity drives me nuts!
1
What makes me feel terrible are the bloody sacrifices the Aztecs performed every summer solstice. I carry about as much responsibility for them as I do for the events in Mr. Blow's rendition.
Every single geography, bar none, has history of the strong conquering the weak in terrible ways with terrible consequences. No exceptions. None.
I would vote for one single worldwide day of remembrance where every nation in the world can remember the people their ancestors trod on so they could be alive now. We could compress huge amounts of vague guilt into a specific period of the year.
I am on vacation that week or I would join you.
97
@Brian "No exceptions. None." I think Mark Twain wrote something like, "There is not a single square yard of earth in the hands of its original owner."
35
@Brian Yes it has always happened before. Does this mean we simply throw our hands in the air and say c'est la vie? We eradicated state sanctioned slavery a mere 150 years ago, but for now we have stopped it. Therefore, I prefer a more optimistic approach that as we evolve and remember from history, we see this as something that too shall be eliminated from human behavior.
7
Okay, thanks for your story, which many of us have heard form many years and know to be true. Can't we just celebrate the thanks we have for our families here in 2019 without feeling the guilt from the atrocious behavior of white people almost 400 years ago? Thanks for the history lesson and thanks to my loving and wonderful 2019 family.
89
Sorry Charles, you can’t rain on this parade.
The Wampanoag and the English (they wouldn’t be called Pilgrims until the late 19th century- I can be pedantic too), actually got along reasonably well in the early years. The Wampanoag viewed the Pilgrims as useful allies given that their ranks had been decimated by disease. The native tribes were not living in some happy Disney-esque fantasy, they were competing, and allies, even white ones, were a valuable asset.
That their alliance, however uneasy, went sour later on doesn’t change the fact that back in 1621, some ragged immigrants were treated with hospitality and kindness by the Americans they met.
You can view that Thanksgiving way back when as a missed opportunity, and fair enough. But turning a genuine bright spot in history -inaccurately- into an negative doesn’t make you a realist, it just makes you a downer.
If you care to remember that the Native Americans learned to regret welcoming these immigrants, that’s fine too. Sometimes opening your doors to strangers through kindness or even enlightened self-interest doesn’t always work out.
But that’s a lesson for another day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
537
While we should always be conscious of this nation's bloody origins, and should never shy away from the ugly truth of both our history and even, in many ways, our present, I think we are ill-served by making that the focus of our attention during this precious opportunity to slow down, spend time with loved ones, and take stock of what we have to be thankful for. Being clear-eyed about where we came from can absolutely help us avoid repeating the same mistakes going forward, both as individuals and as a nation. But if we allow our collective guilt over events that happened centuries ago to dampen our joy and limit our ability to connect with each other now, then we are missing the entire point of what Thanksgiving has come to represent.
35
@Dan Having an awareness of one's history does not equate with "collective guilt." In fact, I would argue that an awareness of that history would actually facilitate our "ability to connect with each other now."
10
@Dan
I share your respect for your nuanced view of history. The truth of the past matters, but so does the truth of the present. There is so much injustice now that we could be righting, and I think that should be the priority. And, yes, we can enjoy our own lives in the present, whatever regrettable things our ancestors did.
Thanks for what you wrote. Take care.
3
Thanksgiving in the 21st century: still at war, just undeclared, unending wars, where if we were taxed specifically to pay for them and drafted specifically to serve in them, they would be over by New Years’. At least we aren’t violating many treaties. Anything remotely controversial has no chance of getting through the Senate these days other than avoiding double taxation in Luxembourg or Spain.
A lot of turkeys have been pardoned this year. As a vegetarian, I am glad some were finally avian.
6
@Mike S.
The biggest turkey pardoned two actually innocent turkeys, and also pardoned a military turkey who shouldn't have been pardoned, has got into bed with bad-actor Turkey-rulers, and is threatening to pardon even more unpardonables to set a precedent for his own self-pardoning.
Oh well, I guess that's what America has become: one giant excuse for a big fat turkey.
4
@Mike S. "over by NewYears"???? Tell that to the 58 thousand American GI's that died in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973. Americans were specifically taxed to pay for that war and drafted specifically to serve in them. So much for over by New Years unless you meant a New Years 9 years away.
1
American history is built on lies. We stack them, one after another, on top of each other like pancakes and proudly display them to the rest of world. Yes, most Americans are blissfully ignorant of our true history. We love fairy tales. Everything from a fairy tale Christmas with 100% of its origins and foundation in Paganism. Same for Easter--another Pagan tradition. Same for St. Patrick's Day, St. Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, and the numerous other religious holidays that we raise and indoctrinate our children with. Thankfully, almost none of this flies in Scandinavia were we remain mostly immune to the lies--although for marketing reasons, we promote some of it. But we Americans...we love fairy tales. The more outrageous the better. The more far-fetched and magical, even better! True, we have come far in questioning and challenging fairy tales, myths, and historical untruths, but we have so very far yet to go. I commend the author for challenging a historical untruth that is propagated, promoted, and dispensed to American children year after year without so much as a challenge in many parochial and religious schools that pepper the American landscape. As an American by birth, we need more uncovering of the facts and exposing of the truth, not the spread of more blatant myths and fairy tales. This is what holds our children back from a good education.
20
@frank12 Every nation's history and every human narrative is based on lies. So what?
3
@Jeff As folks (including myself) love to say when a Repub points to a Dem faux pas when other discuss what Trump has done--Two (Billion) Wrongs Don't Make A Right.
The defensiveness in these remarks is telling.
The enemy is always "us," whether our own parties or ourselves. It starts at home.
No one's saying don't be grateful or celebrate the planet or the country.
But do it honestly.
2
@Jeff, Incorrect. Not every nation's narrative is built on lies. Some nations do everything possible to educate it's citizens of the truth. Some even go as far as not allowing you to graduate high school or college without acknowledging the truth. Others, not so much.
1
On a different but also somber note, last Friday marked 56 years since the JFK assassination on Nov. 22nd, 1963. I looked at the 1963 calendar and realized that this year's calendar is exactly the same: Nov. 22nd was a Friday, and Thanksgiving comes unusually late, on the following Thursday, Nov. 28th. I was not yet born in 1963, but I can only imagine what it must have been like to gather for Thanksgiving less than a week after President Kennedy's assassination, and only a few days after the funeral. I certainly would not have felt like celebrating, but at least the American people could feel thankful for the orderly transfer of power (despite such horrible circumstances) and that the institutions of our democracy remained intact. Today, I am barely clinging to hope that we can save our American democracy from an authoritarian Republican Party that has been effectively captured by Vladimir Putin and the Russian government. If Trump and the Republicans win next November (or if they "win" through Russian interference), then the pillars of our freedom (a free press and other institutions), which are now on life-support, could be -- for all intents and purposes -- destroyed.
79
@Harlemboy; It was very rough. I still remember the school announcement when Kennedy was murdered we children were in shock for weeks. It seemed like the world as we knew it was forever broken.
20
@Harlemboy I was ten at the time. I remember my mother in the kitchen leaning over the sink crying when she told me what happened. The nation stood still. Mesmerized.
12
Why must some continually tear down every tradition in this Country? What does it help deem every act in American history an example of evil and treachery? Are we better off as a people believing the worst of ourselves?
116
@John YES! Because evil, now or in the past, is evil. How will we do better in the future if we don't know what we (or our ancestors) did wrong in the past? Pretending everything was wonderful in the past is like pretending everything is wonderful now. It isn't. I know 'the truth' is in short supply right now, but I am thankful for The Times, Charles and the other dedicated professionals who try to set the story straight and shine a light into the darkness.
11
@John
I believe we are better off as a people if we acknowledge the truth about ourselves.
11
@John
Some folk can only build themselves up by stepping on others.
9
Great column, Mr. Blow. Although many of us would rather continue to be blind to the truth, it could be that a nod to reality is a healthy, if painful alternative.
Another painful reality most of us would rather not pay attention to is the willful slaughter of millions of sentient beings--turkeys in particular these days. Please read the APA description of the process here:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animal-emotions/201711/animal-welfare-fails-many-millions-sentient-individuals
11
@Blusyohsmoosyoh there it is, save the turkeys!
1
@Blusyohsmoosyoh Thank you. You probably already have seen this link, but perhaps others who appreciate your remark will also check these:
upc-online.org
United Poultry Concerns
https://www.truthordrought.com/
(Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, please check this out, for more 'fuel' to your green goals. An article on your favorite restaurants recently indicated an awful lot of chicken on your plate! It's part of the problem(s).)
2
As my Irish father used to ask: “Don’t you know who the Puritans were? Ever hear of Ollie Cromwell? The next year they probably ate the Indians? Etc.” (Yeah, I know — kind of ultra-puritans. The sort of folks who left England to get away from Shakespeare. (Do not correct dates- you know what I mean.). Also gorging ourselves before a lean winter does not make much sense these days. Now let’s try to enjoy the as we see fit. And pray- but also work for the kind of nation that you want. How will people 400 years from now judge us? i hope they get the chance!
9
At a time when our stable-genius president and his conservative minions have started a new campaign claiming that the left is trying to "destroy Thanksgiving," columns like this - while accurate historically - play right into their hands...
40
@edofpotomac2
I share your concern that Trump and others will (again) ride a reactionary political wave from what they will depict as liberals imposing political correctness. They will, of course, grossly exaggerate and mischaracterize that agenda. But considering how much mileage we have inadvertently given them already, I would pick my battles carefully, and leave Thanksgiving be.
Thanks for what you wrote. Take care.
7
While I like the idea of a day set aside to give thanks for all our bounty, let us not justify it anymore with native American relations. Our treatment of the indigenous tribes throughout US history has been one of genocide, mistreatment, and torture. This certainly is not a shining point in our history and certainly not one of the epochs that I would want to return to in trump’s chant ‘Make America Great Again’. Though I wonder if that is one epoch that trump considers made America great.
14
@Ski bum
All true. But don’t stop there. Let us also not forget that Indian tribes fought each other just as Europeans did.
6
Thanks Mr Blow for attempting to take the joy out of one of the few remaining positive events left in our society - that actually brings people of all race and backgrounds together. You getting up there with trump, my friend
And yes we’ve all read Howard Zinn’s book. You seem to have just now just gotten a copy. Sorry to see you becoming increasingly negative, my friend, nonetheless.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family- :-)
174
@Steven Joy is sweetest in the face of pain.
1
@Steven We have not all read Howard Zinn's book. Trump would never be elected by a population that had.
While Mr. Blow may not be read by the people who might benefit the most, I'm glad he wrote this.
13
'Oh, good lord. Can’t we just enjoy a chance to be together with our families without being lectured to by The NYT?'
Second.
185
Next you will be telling me there is no Santa Claus
91
@Roy deBruycker everyone knows that Santa stands for overfed capitalism and luring to children. He was created by a marketing team in the 1890s.
7
Santa Claus is St. Nicholas of Bari. He apparently gave gold to three young women to save them from a life of prostitution (so the story goes). As kids, in the 1960s, we each got an orange in our stocking, symbolizing the gold from St. Nicholas.
9
As many readers point out, this history has been acknowledged. Also, the intent of the first Thanksgiving, if you are right, was good, although as often happens, the intentions faded away in time.
What about focusing on the present-day violence to millions of animals that Thanskgiving now involves (it's not about harvest; it's primarily about killing turkeys). The ridiculous custom of pardoning a turkey (for the sin of being a turkey, I presume) adds insult to injury
15
@reader
Insult to injury. Hmmm. Rich people have a lot to worry about. Protecting turkeys now, eh?
65
Not all people who love animals and want to protect them are rich. Lars Eighner was homeless and went to great lengths to protect his dog. Read "Travels with Lizbeth." Also check out "Strays" about Michael King, a homeless man, and his cat Tabor. You can't blame them for preferring animals of any species to humans.
98
@Pat I agree. It is murder. I do not eat meat or anything that had faces when alive or parents. Hey try those Beyond Burgers, YUM
104
This sounds like a reminder that white people are treacherous and murderous on a scale nobody else is, which is not true. The natives and the early settlers squabbled and fought with each other as equals for the first several decades of settlement. Both sides showed goodwill and hostility in turns. A holiday celebrating the survival of the colony and one of those times when the natives were friendly isn't in any way inappropriate.
117
@matt weems Agreed Matt, the same with early Spanish explorers, indigenous peoples also are guilty of murder of innocents etc. By reading factual historic accounts, there is blame to go all around. This country was an unknown gigantic landscape from coast to coast, and yet the belief that a few thousand white people controlled/subjagated all Indian tribes they came into contact with is a lie that is repeated by the uniformed. The Spanish explorers kept a few journals of their harrowing trips to the "New World", they give you a great insight to how life was in North America back to the late 1400's. Much of the time it was kill or be killed. I encourage all to research and read.
12
Word to ponder: Whataboutism
1
@Carl Pop Baloney. The interaction between the natives and the early colonists were typical of any regional conflict. My point is not that the natives were murderous and therefore it's ok for the settlers to be, my point is there is nothing strange about having a celebration and goodwill at one point, and then a war sixteen years later. Blow seems to be saying there was something sinister and genocidal lurking in the background of that party, and that the character of the settlers was the cause. That's baloney.
15
I agree that history ought be publicized and well known. I also think that it is disingenuous for any human being to believe that their existence on the planet today is due to anything other than the brutal nature of their ancestors.
Sadly, evolution has granted us the ability to group together into tribes and succeed and reproduce by being able to cooperate and sacrifice together within the tribe and have no mercy for those outside. As tribes collided, some lost and some won, with the most successful tribes reproducing and creating today's humanity in all of its variations. There is even some evidence that our common homo sapiens ancestors may have systematically killed off our close cousins, the Neanderthals.
None of this excuses this behavior. But we might all most benefit from understanding that it is our common animal nature, not who was a colonizer or who was colonized in the last 400-500 years (sorry, but the people who were colonized were killing one another off, too), that we ought to be concerned about.
Unfortunately, many people who read this column will (wrongly) feel accused of evil by racial association with the Pilgrims. This, of course, feeds those who would most like to use our tribal nature to their advantage (Trump).
So, let's recognize that we have an animal nature that will let any human being, of any race or color or tribe, do the most horrible things. And, let's celebrate and give thanks that we have the uniquely human capacity to overcome it.
1035
@Grover
Beautifully philosophized and expressed. Thank you.
58
@Grover I'm with you to a great extent -- this is our common evolutionary heritage. And yet, how to address and remediate the specific acts that have shaped our particular history and by extension our present without using a two by four? This I find myself feeling really stuck these days -- and not in regards only to Thanksgiving.
36
@Grover The people who were here prior to Columbus were not exterminating each other. Jews in Europe were not looking for other people to put in concentration camps. Yes, there are historic instances of wrongdoing. You cannot equate the treatment of Native people here in North and South America at the hands of Europeans with guns to their existence prior to European invasion. You cannot provide one historic instance, for example, comparable to the Trail of Tears inflicted by any tribe against another prior to 1492.
105
The setting and context for the first Thanksgiving may have been grim. But for me and my family and friends its morphed into the one yearly occasion where we all are compelled to appreciate what we have, not what we pine for. How ironic that immediately after the pie, everyone immediately abandons all restraint! I for one refuse to partake of the spending orgy that follows over eating.
11
Though it is seldom noted, over 100 Million Native Americans lost their lives from the first incursion of conquerors until the late 1800's. For those who wish to pay their respects, the National Day of Mourning will be marked at Plymouth Rock tomorrow, as it is on every Thanksgiving. All are welcome to attend.
27
The "First Thanksgiving" has indeed achieved mythological status, but it is not clear to this day what role it actually played in the establishment of the national holiday, or at least as far as I understand.
The mythical "First Thanksgiving" in any event was not the first of any kind. Harvest festivals have been celebrated for centuries in Europe and America, as successful harvests were indeed cause for great thanksgiving.
I think the writer here is setting up a bit of a straw man, as many major holidays are enveloped by a convoluted history and hazy antecedents and Thanksgiving is no exception. It is time to go back to basics - celebrate Thanksgiving by "giving thanks" to all that we as puny mortals have the privilege of enjoying.
21
While it is important to acknowledge the ethnic cleansing of the native population by the Europeans, it is equally important to understand that Mr. Blow’s tale of peace-loving natives wantonly killed by evil invaders is another fairy tale rather than the historical truth. The native populations of the Americas before the Europeans came were as varied as any other, and they had as much history as anybody else. And their history was as full of warfare, genocide, slavery, conquest, empire-building and empire fall as the history of Europe or Asia. The Aztec and Inca empires were no more benevolent than Rome. Endless warfare and enslavement among the hunter-gatherers of the Plains are well documented. Human sacrifice was a practice in many native cultures. There are no cartoon villains or victims in the story of America. Human beings are dynamic creatures, moving from place to place, and when two cultures collide, bad things happen. We need to stop thinking about history in black-and-white morality tale, and study its real lessons rather than apportioning blame. I’ll be happy to celebrate Thanksgiving with no guilt for the past but rather with hopes for a better future.
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@Mor Yes, all peoples have waged brutal wars; so on that I agree with your comment completely.
For me, as a person born in New England, still, the crux of the matter is not _just_ the genocide, but the fact that still, disproportionally, European-Americans 'own' the land & wealth. Otherwise, to an extent, how the American Indians behaved On Their Own Land is not the main issue (and perhaps Charles should've emphasized that ongoing theft--see pipelines on reservations, e.g.).
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Best reply of the bunch! Giving thanks for your thoughtful, eloquent words.
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@AY would you suggest the land be redistributed by use of force or threat of force? Or asking? Or under penalty of incarceration? Maybe we should draw straws? I feel the resentment but that is not an answer.
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Once you look American history in the face, it is hard to look away. For those who want to sever Thanksgiving from its mythology and enjoy it as a national day of sharing and gratitude untethered to our collective past, I wonder, why can't we do that while also facing our history? Why can't we recognize this country's 1,500 authorized attacks on native people (the most of any country in the world) AND set a national intention for peace, love, and perhaps remembrance as a way of moving forward?
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It is true our Thanksgiving "myths" show only one side of the story. But before we throw it out, let's remember the good things - alien people coming together to survive in a harsh winter, Pilgrims who came seeking to live out their religious freedom. Yes, they were intolerant of other persecuted branches of the faith, but read their writings and they are awash in love and the search for purity in individual lives and in the community. Their writings contain an appeal for mercy and compassion that can only come from a people persecuted themselves. Their Mayflower Compact laid the ground and became a forerunner of our striving for independence. The first published woman poet on this continent was a Puritan woman. If it is true that we white wash our past in this holiday, critics of it miss its beauties and the heritage we should treasure. The genocide of indigenous peoples is unforgivable, but it was not unique to these settlers. It was shared by all our ancestors, with very few exceptions. This can be taught along with the Thanksgiving story which celebrates sharing, goodness and peace. Let's be brutally honest in our memory, but let's also recall the good. You are always the first op ed I read the days your column is in the paper, Mr. Blow, and your work is superb and an asset to our nation.
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Unfortunately the United States of America somehow still believes in its historical myths and the one that is the worst offender is that quoted by every president and political hack - the AMERICAN DREAM whatever that is. Historical truth underscores the primary cause of the American Revolution - money. The Boston Tea Party was all about the early settlers' umbrage at being taxed without representation. p.s. why do all your presidents finish their speeches with "and God bless America"? One never hears our Prime Minister employing that catch phrase.
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Sadly for most of us, history is written by the victors. But, to the inevitable dismay of the victors (see Great Britain) that isn't to suggest history can't one day be rewritten. Mr Blow reminds his readers an historical injustice as profound as African American slavery will never be fully atoned for without meaningful redress exacted from the beneficiaries of that atrocity, and a heartfelt expression appreciation on their part for the saintly restraint with which their abuses have thus far been received.
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Thank you to the NYTimes, and in particular Charles Blow this time, for continuing to “keep it real” when it comes to charade that is known as thanksgiving. Slavery is always talked about as America’s original sin, but our genocide of native Americans was clearly first and worse. Americans live in a fantasy bubble of white-washed facts and a history rich with stories or heroism and camaraderie that never happen. We continue today to marginalize, segregate and prejudge the true founders of America. And just to make the whole fairy tale even more absurd, turkeys weren’t ever part of the feast. That was another American farce created by a turkey farmer to make money.
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@Dan
I can't imagine how to teach what really happened in Thanksgiving and our early history. I think any teacher who taught this reality would be brought up to the
school board and fired for inflaming their children. At the least it would be a challenge.
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@sheila Many elementary teachers in Oakland tell the true story, and most elementary schools include a locally written (or state-written) curriculum on pre-Columbus California, e.g., about the Ohlone in the Berkeley area, etc.
It can be, and is being done. Thankfully. Onward!
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Thank goodness Trump is pushing back against the "War on Thanksgiving!" (Ugh)
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My family Thanksgiving was always presented by my father, a history buff, as a harvest celebration first enjoyed by invading white European settlers on the backs of the indigenous natives whom they regarded as “savages.” How happy my European immigrant dad would be if he were alive to see that Native Americans are commemorating the sad truth of Thanksgiving as a day of conquest alongside white, sympathetic latecomers like him.
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Oh, good lord. Can’t we just enjoy a chance to be together with our families without being lectured to by The NYT?
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@Lisa
The truth often hurts. So what good does it do to hear it?
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@Richard W. King I think you mean, what harm can it do to hear it.
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@Richard W. King
Truth is beauty, truth beauty--That is all. Ye know on Earth and all ye need to know."
Ode on a Grecian Urn Keats.
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The only history we seem to have forgotten is that articles like this, debunking the "nice" view of the holiday, have been appearing every Thanksgiving for the last 30 years.
There are at least two of them running in today's NYT alone. Charles Blow's citations of History.com and such noted history journals as Fortune magazine underscore the point, though without him realizing it.
We've got historical amnesia about our own prior admissions of historical amnesia.
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History is written by the victors. That's all!
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This is a particularly biased take on history. Both Natives and Europeans committed atrocities against one-another. Natives took members of other tribes as slaves. The Cherokee had black slaves. Members of the Lakota Minniconjou people slaughtered Poncas. A war party of Brule attacked and killed 100 Pawnee, mostly women and children. Do these events mitigate the horrors white men and women did impose on Natives through removal, broken treaties, and the Dawes Act? Of course not, but to portray Native people as innocent victims is to perpetuate the stereotype of the “noble savage.” Innocence and real savagery are not the monopoly of any one people. Mitakuye oyasin.
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@Steve Bucklin
Thanks. I feel better now.
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@Steve Bucklin it's interesting, my initial reaction was to say that the pilgrims must be held to a different standard, that they were Intruders while the native people were each other's problem and their grievances theirs to sort out. But if we are to move past tribalism, and aspire to a more just world then we must accept that all of Earth belongs to no one and everyone, and if we do that then all our histories must be held to account, shared lessons for a shred future so to speak.
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While I appreciate that the author cites an excellent historian like Peter Mancall, full quotations from History.com (!) raises the question how serious we should take this piece.
It is well-known the people in New England massacred the Natives there. Like most holidays, Thanksgiving is not an "accurate" reflection of history but is supposed to convey symbolic narratives that are meant to inspire us and give a theme to a day off from work.
This piece is the Thanksgiving equivalent of someone writing that " Wikipedia says that Jesus was not really born on December 25, 1 A.D.! I did not know that, now I am going to have to totally revisit the 'good will to all mankind' thing!"
Those facts do not diminish celebrating life's victory over death and peace on Earth (Christmas) or being grateful and with family at least one day of the year (Thanksgiving).
You can better than this, Mr. Blow.
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I by no means am an apologist for the treatment of the original Americans, and constantly try to explain the nuances to my children. But your article makes it seem like you would prefer us not celebrate Thanksgiving at all. Isn’t marking the history - and the hopeful intent behind the original Thanksgiving - while recognizing the conflict and whitewashed stories - better? I think that is what most of us do these days - at least the people on the NYTimes bothering to read your column.
This op ed is condescending and dismissive, and does you a disservice.
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The horrible history of white man's treatment of Native Americans continues today by putting pipelines through their reservations, polluting their lands, taking more of their land, ignoring their poverty and crimes against women, and more. However, they are a proud people and have persisted and we now have two Native American women Representatives in Congress.
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@Jacquie maybe that should have been the last paragraph of this piece.
3
Lived in Plymouth for 17 years, and your right Charles, those history books we all read as kids were pure propaganda. I had the opportunity to visit Cupids Cove, Conception Bay, in Newfoundland some years back. Squanto spent some time there on his return from England.
Squanto left there for home, and as the ship sailed along the Massachusetts coastline, he remarked to his captors, where are my people, where are my villages. Smallpox.
Our written history by our "scholar's" is in many ways vacant of what really took place.
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@cherrylog754
May I suggest "1491" by Charles Mann?
1
We only get 7 holidays a year and barely get half a day off. If the upper class insist on taking away the only chance for us workers to bond with our families,they better pay us more.
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@Working class That should happen, too; but how about simply substituting an Indigenous Peoples Day?
1
Chuck, the 1636-38 PEQUOT war, not Wampanog war, was indeed a bloodbath.
You need to read the following (if you haven't already, maybe you have):
Alden T. Vaughan
New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians, 1620-1675
ISBN-10: 080612718X
ISBN-13: 978-0806127187
AND
Roots of American Racism: Essays on the Colonial Experience
ISBN-10: 9780195086874
ISBN-13: 978-0195086874
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The specific history of our Thanksgiving is pretty gruesome and one-sided, there is no doubt about that. Perhaps the ones seeking a pardon should be us, and not a token turkey? At the same time -- many cultures around the world celebrate some form of harvest festival. In Korea, there is Chuseok, a major fall holiday; in some Afrcan countries there is a Festival of Yams; in China, there is the mid-autumn festival. So while the specific history of our specific holiday is not all sweetness and light, the desire for people to come together, connect with family, and celebrate the fact that it looks like we can make it through another winter, that seems universal. We can hold both thoughts in our minds: remember the dark specifics of our national day while appreciating the archetype of a fall holiday.
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As with the cranberry sauce, I think I’ll likewise pass on this depressing lecture and instead choose to eat, drink, and be thankful for the wonderful people in my life.
If you and yours want to sit around and contemplate the horrors of colonialism on Thanksgiving, please feel free. For the vast majority of Americans, the holiday is only vaguely associated with the original mythology, and is instead a day to be thankful for loved ones, even in difficult times.
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@MP This comment is true, so good point, but it isn't inconsistent to express thankfulness for the people in our lives and still be aware of the sugar coated history that we learned. I particularly appreciate the, "vaguely associated with the original mythology" comment. Christmas is right around the corner and has little more connection to the mythology than Thanksgiving.
24
@MP I agree that Thanksgiving is, in our modern version a time to gather with family and friends and be thankful for the blessings we have.
However, the Thanksgiving story about the benevolent Pilgrims and grateful Indians is but one of so many self-serving myths that we hold dear and pass on. It has always been so. For another, see the excellent series (1619) in The Times about slavery's significance and ubiquitous embrace from our founding to the Civil War and beyond.
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@MP
Amen! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
20
I unequivocally agree with Mr. Blow that in this nation of ours there was an genocide of Native Americans that started in the early 17th century and continued all the way to the early 20th century. It happened, it was evil, and it nearly wiped Native Americans out.
But, most of us, in fact, nearly all of we who now live, had no part in that genocide. Do we deserve the guilt and the shame for the relatively few of our ancestors who committed the genocide? What should we do about this, and why?
Perhaps we can start by teaching an accurate history of Thanksgiving. But where - and does - it end?
19
@Dave I don't want to go back to the "old country" (of grand- and/or great-grandparents)--but most of us are still living on land that we still haven't "paid" for yet, though many organizations are working on bettering the life in the reservations (e.g., see Native American Rights Fund; www.narf.org ) . (And this fact nags me especially when we talk about this being a nation of immigrants--which I am part of, I agree with that, but....the nagging...is this issue.)
When Nelson Mandela spoke at the Oakland Coliseum shortly after gaining his freedom, he spoke of discussing the Native America 'issue' with the president. Seems that never happened.
I do agree many (not sure most, with Trump as Prez) love Thanksgiving for its family, friends, feast qualities.
All non-native Americans benefit from the 400 years of unfair (& worse) treatment of the American Indians, just as all of us (yes, _still_) have benefited from slavery (unless we're below the poverty level).
Perhaps we can all splurge on a yearly Reparations Fund as well as on our factory-farmed-government-subsidized turkeys. That, perhaps, is where it can end & rest in peace.
2
"When I was a child, Thanksgiving was simple. It was about turkey and dressing, love and laughter, a time for the family to gather around a feast and be thankful for the year that had passed and be hopeful for the year to come."
Christmas was an opportunistic adoption of a pagan solstice tradition. There is no evidence that Jesus was born in December.
Easter is a celebration of springtime that in its timing has no historic relationship to Christ's resurrection.
Present day celebrations should be experienced fully in the present based on our current feelings. Historic antecedents, or the lack of them, may be of interest but should not be allowed to govern, taint or limit the present celebration.
Here is another way for Blow to look at the "hard truth" of Thanksgiving:
The celebration originated in a challenging social context that contained dark and foreboding elements. And, look, we have now made it into something that is warm and nurturing. That's progress. Good for us.
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I'm not acquainted with anyone that maintains the "gauzy, kindergarten version" of the first Thanksgiving. None of your writing blew my mind- the history of how Old World colonizers destroyed cultures and people is well known.
Much like we grow up as people, we are growing up as a nation and though it is imperfect, can you deny that we've matured as a culture? A bloody, shameful history then bares nothing to the lovely tradition of the present. Can the holiday then not be just that? An opportunity to come together and be thankful.
I think it is entirely inappropriate to cast Americans as desiring to be "blissfully blind". It's exactly that sort of presumptive judgement that erodes the place where growth and change can happen.
We have to live with what is and make our world better every day, not bemoan unrealized utopia.
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@lauren
Almost half of us think Trump is doing a good job and we are growing up?
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@lauren we've been in two wars for a generation. Our own people expirienceing the unimaginable stress of combat, some coming home disfigured others dead, and that's saying nothing of the multitudes of dead and injured Afghans and Iraqis their families scarred for generations, yet Black Friday is always on time and better than ever. We are "blissfully blind."
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We Americans believe in all kinds of illusions. It's a heavily Christian country and many believe that Mary was a virgin. Now, if you believe that you'll believe anything, no?
You might even work yourself up to believe that Donald Trump is a great President. Imagine that.
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Mr Blow, I agree we need truth and cannot and should not abide by the bleaching away of reality. We must examined the reality behind American mythologies.
We also need mythology to aspire to become better than the Balkanized reality we find ourselves in as a country.
Thanksgiving is a great and democratic holiday all Americans can celebrate regardless of background. God knows we need more occasions to unite us as a nation, just as was the case when President Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
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@amundsen Maybe we could change Indigenous Peoples Day, which some locales celebrate instead of Columbus day, to that unifying holiday. I still get the idea that too many commenting just don't want to hear about it, not that they want to progress to a multi-culti feast. Which I doubt most immigrants (and I mean ALL except slaves and indigenous 'Indians') are holding.
2
Oh well, that’s it! Let’s just cancel Thanksgiving off the calendar! Gosh darn it! We just can’t celebrate this holiday any more! How have we been living with ourselves all this time? It’s yet another horrible symbol of oppression! We should all be ashamed!
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@Kevin
I think, Kevin, that Mr. Blow's point is that it's better to know the truth about our past rather than sugar coating it. We should certainly be thankful, but we shouldn't be ignorant.
Cheers.
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@Kevin Right?! Heaven forfend that we can actually enjoy ourselves with friends and family, even if it's only for one day (or half-day as it's become) without some dyspeptic downer wanting to take what should be a simple pleasure away from us. Allowing ourselves to "fill our plate"? Oh no, Mr. Blow would rather we regurgitate our meal as penance for the sins of those who died 400 years ago.
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@R Mandl Of course history should not be sugar coated! But I’m sick, already, of this predictable trope of an article (as I am sure many others are too). Then, the New York Times staff goes and shows it’s own simplistic bias defending the piece!
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As long as we're dissing Thanksgiving . . .
Can anybody explain to me why eating yourself silly is supposed to show gratitude for what you have? If the goal is to express thankfulness, wouldn't fasting for a day be more logical?
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@Ed Apparently that was the actual Pilgrim way to express thankfulness. Fasting, not feasting. The feasting they did in this instance was a celebration. The fact that it was somehow turned into a holiday for excessive eating and football watching is the messed up part.
5
@Ed I believe the gorging is necessary to supply the energy to watch football and/or shop.
1
@Ed
Why do you assume people eat themselves silly? One can only eat until he's satisfied and no more than that.
Eating a meal together is a rather sacred act. It binds people, creates intimacy, forges bonds. That's what it's about, not the amount of food on the table.
9
Sometimes the truth is hard to find, and often harder to believe. But I wish you the best Charles. You make the world a better place.
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I'm sure you're confident that a more accurate depiction of the Thanksgiving holiday can be formulated more than 250 years after the original event, but the fair minded person must point out that such a revision is heavily biased and can not possibly be verified. Believe what you wish Charles, but as Americans of all races, creeds, genders, and walks of life gather to celebrate the holiday, rest assured that the Thanksgiving celebration remains one of the most unbiased, up-lifting and cherished institutions of life in the United States.
221
Maybe someday a president will dump the focus on the pardoned turkey and, together with native people, jointly develop a new thanksgiving tradition that moves us forward in a positive way. This is a missed opportunity.
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@Mikul Great idea!
2
@Mikul Yes--and that would mean openly, dramatically, decisively, turning Thanksgiving into a autumn harvest feast, as it is in many countries (yes, think pagan, for shorthand); including the true histories of European genocide on this continent as well as the hope for true multicultural harmony; finally dealing with the inequality of the indigenous people of Turtle Island--which will take decades, but reforming the reservation isn't the answer; and, lastly, in line with our deepening awareness of the relationship between factory farming & global warming, not to mention farm-animal abuse, phasing out the slaughter of turkeys on such a holocaustal scale.
Meanwhile, it's still good to give thanks in our personal lives, and to appreciate the land & all its peoples & creatures.
6
There is no denying that much shameful history has been whitewashed, and that a political narrative has molded much of our sentiment about times past.
But still, we can only address the present and future. We can find ways to be respectful of and helpful towards one another. We can vote for elected officials who envision our country as pluralistic and inclusive. And we can make Thanksgiving mean what we want it to mean, even just a simple day to appreciate the people and things we enjoy, without feeling bad about that.
Have a happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
55
@NM Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, NM!
8